Desperation
by Jennai
Summary: In a desperate attempt to pay off her rent and tuition, 20 yrs old Ryuuzaki Sakuno found herself landed on the doorsteps of a great mansion that belonged to none other than the great Echizen Ryoma himself. RyoSaku
1. Catty Suicidal Attempt

**Chapter I : Catty Suicidal Attempt**

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"_Tempt not a desperate man," – Romeo and Juliet, Act V

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_Psychiatrist needed!_

Nope. She'd probably end up vomiting and cutting up her patients.

_Are you interested in art? The Art Institute of New York – _

Right, the only thing that she could draw well and that even looked presentable was stick people. It had been a fond favorite of her's since kindergarten.

_Wanted: Full-time baby-sitter!_

Tempting, but she had school in the morning. Besides, she was such a pushover that the children would've had their way with her in some way or another.

_A position as ateacher at Gladstone High is available. Please call for more details._

The pay was certainly high, but she couldn't teach to save her life. She'd probably stutter and mutter words that were incoherent and barely understandable. She'd be bullied, that was for sure – even by first graders.

_Hiring: Erotic services for females overr – _

Don't even go there!

Ryuuzaki Sakuno slumped down on her seat, her face titled towards the whitewashed ceiling that was already cracking from years of tear and dust. Closing her dried eyes that had suffered from too much squinting over the classified section, she gave a deep sigh, trying to relieve herself of the stress that had been her companion for the past two years.

Life had been tough for the twenty-year-old, having to move away from her hometown at the age of eighteen to the bustling, noisy and alien city of New York – not that Tokoyo was any different. Still, English was always one of her worst subjects, and living in a place where they speak nothing but that, it was excrutiantingly painful. And all this just to pursue a better education that Japan could not offer.

It had been a wild and exciting adventure at first, as she had been a girl clueless about the world, with the whole world to see, and the future to meet. It really had been exhilarating at the beginning.

Stepping out of the vast, airy airport, and taking her very first step in another country, she had been simply ecstatic to see the bustling cars honking at each other, loud tourists squishing through the mobs of people, and the great a many billboards plastered against endless amount of tall skyscrapers and high-rise buildings. It was the exact image that the _Discovery Channel_ had depicted.

Even the air smelled different.

For the first time in her life, Sakuno finally new what Jasmine from _Aladdin_ had felt when he had taken her for a ride on their magic carpet. There was definitely neither carpet nor magic, but the whole skyscrapers and cars made up for it. Besides, who wanted to see a piece of dry, dusty dessert when there was a Statue of Liberty?

As soon as her happiness had appeared, it faded like water sloshing down the drain. Now that she had made it to her intended destination, she was alone in a foreign country. The only person she had to solely depend on was her self. Her parents had been very against her idea, threatening to disown her if she ever left. It was only due to her grandmother's persuasion that they had finally relented.

Sakuno bit her lips in anger at the thought. Her parents had never taken their role properly, dumping her at her grandmother's and going off to exploit their own pleasures. What right did they have in the first place to dictate where she could or could not do?

As soon as she had settled herself in a small, cramped one room apartment that was only a few blocks away from downtown, she had enrolled into a famous college (her marks were decent enough) and found a few odd jobs here and there, trying tirelessly to pay for her school fees and rent.

It had all been fine and dandy until recently – her stress had finally caught up to her. The work was fine – her bosses were all pretty decent, and her colleagues had all been optimistic and friendly. But with the load of homework she was receiving from school, and her jobs that needed her to jump from one place to another, she never slept for more than a mere four hours per day.

How she survived, she hadn't a clue. Maybe it had been because of her religious consumption of Starbucks coffee, but whatever it was, she couldn't continue to hold on any longer.

She needed a job that was easy and well paying_ now_.

Thus her desperate attempt at skimming through the classified section of the New York Times, though it was to no avail. They were either jobs that required a certain certification, or it was those part time jobs that she was already doing. Of course, her best friend, Tomoka, would have pointed out that there was always the "erotic" section, but really, no matter how far in the dumps she was, she would not ever, ever, _ever,_ sacrifice her dignity and pride for the sole reason of money.

Yet, how very true it was, that money could make the world go round.

Sighing, see resumed her search. Scanning through the black-and-white paper, her eyes settled on a tiny advertisement printed on the very bottom corner of the page, barely visible to the human eye. Squinting, it read:

_In need of an easy job that pays well?_

Sakuno cocked her eyebrow.

_We are in need of a housekeeper who is self-motivated, energetic, and responsible, who can wash dishes, do laundry, simple cooking, and basic house cleaning. Please call for details._

She glanced at the address written under the telephone number, and gasped out loud. This house – no, mansion, was located at the outskirts of the city, where the riches could domicile peacefully, far away from the prying eyes of nosy paparazzi and screaming fans. It was where the people of high social status and mountains of gold in their bank accounts resided.

Picking up the newspaper from her dining table, she crossed her living room and picked up the phone that was settled by the counter, near her window. Dialing the number, she waited as the dial tone beeped. For a few minutes, no one picked up, and as she was about to give up, someone answered.

"Hello?" an old, crackly voice spoke up on the other end.

"Um…hi! I'm Sakuno Ryuuzaki and I - "

"Look honey," the voice which Sakuno presumed to be that of an old woman's, cut her off, huffing and puffing from god-knows-what, "If you're one of his fans, send your love through email, okay? He's never home, so it's stupid to try calling him."

"B-but I'm not trying to call him!" she exclaimed. What in the world was the old woman ranting on about? And who was _him_?

"Oh," the other side paused for a second, before continuing, "Well, if you're some newspaper reporter or interviewer, go call his manager! This is _his_ house, _his_ private property that doesn't need some other people to stick there nose in it, and I'd like to keep it the way it is, if you please."

"B-but-"

"No buts. Do you know how the young master spends his days? He's already holed up in a conference room right now, and he has a competition in the upcoming weeks. If you're that desperate, go to the reporting sessions! And if you're some telemarketer, I don't have the time to deal with some ecology crap! My master already donated millions of dollar to some AIDs fund down in South Africa. Not only that, he sends money to the World Wildlife Fund every month to feed his panda, so no charities either!"

A panda? Sakuno, who had been bewildered at the spunky woman on the other side of the phone, came to the conclusion that the woman would not stop her tyrannical speeches unless otherwise interrupted.

Inhaling a deep breath, Sakuno exclaimed in as loud as a voice she could possibly muster, while still keeping her tone friendly and cheerful. "I'm not a reporter, miss! I'm responding to the position of housekeeper as seen on your advertisement on the New York daily!"

Sakuno then exhale like a balloon, immediately feeling relieved that she had let out her butterflies.

The old woman stopped in mid speech.

"Oh!" she chuckled mildly, her voice immediately softening to a grandmotherly tone, "Why, I'm so sorry, honey. I thought you were some of those pathetic excuses of a dog, you know? They never stop hounding him, always trying to sniff someway into his butt. They never succeed, but it's really quite frustrating to know that they don't understand the term 'failure'. Why, of course I'll hire you! Just come tomorrow at around…" there was a pause, "Eleven in the morning. Just ring the doorbell, and that should be no problem."

"Um…don't you want to see my resume? Or have an interview?"

"No, no, it's perfectly fine. I can tell you're a sweet and hardworking girl. Polite, too!" A big clash of what seemed to be breaking glass echoed from the other side of the phone, followed by a terrified scream, and then a sob of horror.

"Oh dear," the old woman commented, "I better run, honey. See you tomorrow!"

With a click, the conversation ended, leaving a perplexed Sakuno standing there, with her hands still cradling her phone. Years of experience had taught her to be paranoid, and she couldn't help but feel suspicious at the whole thing.

After all, it did seem fishy that they would hire someone with out a resume or an interview. What if she was some sort of assassin seeking revenge on a particular wealthy business man? Either they must be really desperate, or really stupid.

Sakuno shrugged.

Like some people always said, desperate times called for desperate measures.

* * *

Sakuno stood at the towering front gate, admiring the large estate that stood proudly within. She had seen plenty of beautiful mansions, from old Victorian styles to a modern, jazzy style of housings. But the one inside, though smaller than the rest in the neighborhood, had a special quality that the others lacked. 

It was a two story building, painted in soft caramel beige with large, towering glass windows settled on either side of the house. A few oak trees stood tall and confident beside the house. Obviously made with a European taste, it was set against a backdrop of rolling glass, with a small, classic barn nesting against the vast expanse of land. It was very, very simple, but elegant nevertheless.

She pressed on the doorbell.

"Hello?" a cracking old voice spoke through the speaker a few minutes later.

"Hi," she replied rather awkwardly. "This is Sakuno Ryuuzaki, and I am supposed to work starting today." Even to her ears, her statement sounded more like a question.

"Oh, right. You're the polite girl!"

There was a buzz.

"Come on in! The door's opened."

Uncomfortably, she opened the gate and walked in, passing by the blossoming tulips and the dancing daffodils. Again, she couldn't help but admire the beauty of the house.

Walking up the tiled steps and towards the door, it opened as soon as she reached there. A short, graying woman stood, wearing a pink apron, her white hair wild and crazy upon her head. She regarded Sakuno with jolly, green eyes. Her face was filled with aging wrinkles which the scars of time had left.

"Ah! You look as sweet as your voice!" she exclaimed, her voice powerful and piercing.

Sakuno bowed immediately. Although this was New York, she had still never gotten rid of this particular habit. As a child, her grandmother had taught her the basis of etiquette: always bow to your elders.

"Oh, child! Don't do that!" the woman cried, grabbing Sakuno's small hands into her own, aging ones. "Here, here, come in and I'll show you what you're supposed to do."

The house was as impressive on the inside as it was on the outside. There was a massive hallway made out of marbles, with a set of red-carpeted stairs leading up to the second floor. The kitchen, with doors leading to a large veranda, was large and airy, accompanied with a cozy family room. The guest room reminded her of royalty – soft, expensive suede sofas, a glass coffee table in the middle, and a large window to view the beauty of the landscape. A display case full of oriental displays of ceramics and potteries were set to the side. An electric fire place was nestled against the wall, with vases of dried flowers here and there to accent the display.

"It's gorgeous," Sakuno breathed.

The old woman grinned at her. "The master has fine taste."

She could not do anything but agree.

As the woman gave her a tour of the house (which included seven bedrooms upstairs, and more in the basement), she gave the instructions to Sakuno.

"Since as you have school in the morning, come after school until eight and do the basic clean up. The laundry room is down in the basement, and there's a blue bucket of clothes to wash in there. Not hard to spot, I'd reckon. Of course, vacuum the carpet, mop the floor, and occasionally, the dishes. The master never really eats in the house since he's almost always away. Besides, I'm in charge of the kitchen and the whole household, so I'll be doing most of the cooking.

"Also, you'll have to clean up the guest rooms – not that it needs cleaning since nobody ever really stays. I'll pay you at the end of every month. Fair?"

Sakuno nodded.

"Nanako is usually at home – she's the master's cousin. She's in charge of all the finances of the house and kind of his secretary too. I mean, she takes care of all his schedule and money, but that's about it. She's a sweet girl. You'll like her.

"Oh, before I set you off to work, just a reminder. The master has a cat – he treats him like a child of his own!" the old woman scoffed, as if the very idea was alien and foreign to her. "He had him since he was ten? Quite an old cat, I believe, though what's he doing alive, I don't understand. Be nice to him, or say goodbye to your job. That's what happened when the last maid forgot to feed him. Meowing all the way, I think."

"Uh…what does he look like?" Sakuno asked anxiously. The last thing she needed was to be jobless by a mere kitty cat.

"Oh! Pish-posh! He's not hard to miss. Kind of like a raccoon, with black ears and face, and white the rest of the way. I guess he would be very fluffy and cute in your eyes, but trust me, girlie, dogs are_ much_ better."

"Uh…he's not…_fierce_, is he?"

"Oh, naw. He's more whiny and annoying. If he ever gets on your nerves, say 'shoo, Karupin,' and he'll leave."

Sakuno tried to smile, but failed miserably. "Um…what should I call you, miss?"

"Oh right!" the old woman slapped herself on the forehead. "How foolish of me! Must be my old age, you know? How I wish I was young and tender like you!"

Sakuno flushed. "Um…miss…your name?"

She slapped herself again, making Sakuno wince in pain. She wondered if this was partly the reason why this old woman was so forgetful. Too many slappings and too many lost brain cells, perhaps.

"Oops, silly of me. Just call me Morghanna."

"Please to meet you, Morghanna."

"Of course, of course, darling." She glanced down at her watch, "Oh dear, it's the feeding time. Why don't you be a dear and go and get Karupin? He's probably frolicking somewhere in the sun out in the backyard."

Before Sakuno could agree, the old woman had already strolled off, humming some cheerful tune to herself. Sakuno smiled. Morghanna was really one of a kind.

Going through the kitchen and out the back door, she took a deep breath. It was a beautiful, cloudless day, and Sakuno couldn't help but feel her spirits lift. Things were finally starting to look up.

Passing by the swimming pool, Sakuno looked around the patches of geraniums and camellias in vain.

"Karupin!" she called out, her brown orbs swerving here and there for the Siamese cat. "Karupin!"

Tripping over a root, she rubbed her sore knee and muttered, "Stupid cat."

_Meow!_

Sakuno's head shot up.

_Meow!_

There it was again. Looking frantically, it dawned on her that the persistent meowing was above her head. Staring up, she spotted a fur ball of black and white perching on a thin, weak-looking branch a few good feet above her. It was meowing frantically, its blue eyes staring at her in fear.

_Meow!_

Oh darn it! If what Morghanna said was true and the kitty fell and died, the master of the house was going to _kill_ her! Literally!

In a frenzy, Sakuno was torn between running for Morghanna, or actually playing superman and climbing up the thirty feet tree to save the kitty cat. Spotting a bright, silver ladder that was placed securely by another tree a few yards away, Sakuno sprinted over and attempted to carry it back as quick as possible. But the darn, blasted thing was _heavy_!

Muttering curses under her breath, she set the ladder as securely as humanely possible against the tree, and without a thought, climbed up slowly. With every further step she took, the metal beneath her wobbled, inflicting fear in her heart. She absolutely hated, abhorred, and loathed heights.

_This is why you should never be a gardener. _Sakuno could feel the other side of conscience reminding her.

Eternity had passed, and finally, she reached the very top, where a now quite Karupin was staring at her rather suspiciously.

"Come here, kitty, kitty," Sakuno cooed, her two hands reaching slowly for the bundle of fur. Miraculously, she was able to balance with just her two feet. "Come here, Karupin, you're fine, aren't you?"

The cat only watched her warily, inching backwards as her hands inched forward.

"Oh come here!" she huffed impatiently, reaching even closer.

Karupin, who had never been fond of strangers, hissed and sprung his paws forward, startling the petite brunette and her balance.

"_Oh, shit_!" She cursed under her breath, as she felt herself wheeling downwards by the pull of gravity. Why, why, _why_! She didn't want to die yet! In fact, she was too young to die, damn it!

She'd be lucky if she would only break a few ribs and crack a few bones.

Closing her eyes tightly, she braced herself for the oncoming impact, wondering to herself if she would be able to see her life flashing by her eyes.

But she never saw her life flashing by her eyes.

She only felt a big thud and heard a big "oof."

Cracking one of her eyes open, she looked up and saw the cursed branch with the cursed cat still perching on it. She couldn't contain her glee as she realized that she had survived, and god, it didn't hurt that much! Minus a few bruises and a sore back, she was in a perfectly good form.

"Ne! Do you mind getting off me?" Came an impatient voice from under.

Looking down, she gasped in surprise and sprung up as fast as a startled rabbit, ignoring the sharp pain in her neck.

"I'm s-so s-sorry!" she apologized, staring at the patch of ground between her shoes, not daring to look up at her savior who was in the midst of picking himself up from the floor.

"Are you suicidal?" his deep voice sounded again, staggering Sakuno to look up.

A tall figure of five-eleven stood before her, his jet black hair messy and his cat-like auburn eyes narrowed in irritation. His features were sharp and flawless, and much more mature than the features she had been so mesmerized by eight years ago. Dressed in a blue sweater and a pair of white Fila's shorts, he put on his fallen white cap that had an "R" engraved in the middle.

"W-What?"

He was more than handsome, sure enough. Sakuno could comprehend why even fifty-year-old women were obsessed with him. He had the look, the money, and the skills – a perfect package, if she did say so herself. But that aura of cockiness and that arrogant attitude was _really_ unnerving.

Echizen Ryoma rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I said, are you suicidal?"

"N-no." Sakuno flushed prettily. It wasn't the fact that Echizen Ryoma had branded her as an insane girl, but the fact that he was here was unsettling enough. And for the first time, realization dawned on her. That was what Morghanna had meant about nosy paparazzi and screaming fans – Echizen Ryoma, number one tennis player in the world. Oh yes, that's right, Echizen Ryoma had just saved her from ending up with a broken neck.

The tennis star eyed her circumspectly. "Do you need a psychologist?"

"No!" Sakuno could almost die. Not only did he not remember her, he really thought she was insane.

Although she had grown out of her puppy love for Ryoma, she still had to genuinely admire his amazing tennis skills and talent. She had watched most of his tournaments in grand slams and master series, and all she could conclude was that he was simply the best in history.

Ryoma gave her one last weird look before stuffing his hands in his pocket and walking away towards the house, followed by a meowing Karupin.

"Thank you!" she called out, her face still the color of red tomatoes.

A wave of his hand was the reply.

"Stupid, stupid cat!" Sakuno muttered angrily, before setting off for the house herself.

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**A/N: **Wooot! New story! I hope you guys enjoyed it. It was a bit informative, but relevant, I should think. I won't be updating this as much as my other story, since it _is_ my goal to finish Business Intrigue first. But nevertheless, I'll update as often as I can, so enjoy!! 


	2. Bitterness

**Chapter II: Ryoma's Bitterness**

"_People who say they don't care what people think are usually __desperate__ to have people think they don't care what people think__" – George Carlin_

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Sakuno heaved a sorrowful sigh as she arranged the newly cleaned dishes into the cupboard. She shouldn't be depressed; she shouldn't have expected more. So what if Echizen Ryoma didn't remember her? It wasn't as if they were the best of chums during middle high – in fact, they weren't even _friends_.

Sure, she had made bentos and cakes for him; he had spent time teaching tennis to her. But they never had times where they would just laugh and do nothing; they never went shopping or to the amusement park; most of all, they couldn't even enjoy each other's company. And that was what having friends was all about, isn't it? Enjoying each other's company?

She did it because of her puppy love; he did it because…well, because he had no choice to speak of, really.

Sakuno sighed again and was bonked gently over the head by a rather wet spatula.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself," Morghanna scolded. The old housekeeper, shooting Sakuno a rather nasty glance, was currently stirring some ramen by the polished stove.

"B-But I'm not feeling sorry for myself."

Morghanna shot her another scornful glance and ignored her answer. "What? Are you just drowning in sorrow because the Ryoma isn't interested in you? He didn't even spare you a glance, did he?"

"Um…no?"

"Now, I tell you what, lassie! You don't go and bother him, alright? Busy, busy kid, Echizen Ryoma is. I think you're a pretty and sweet girl, but don't think you can make him notice you with your innocent face. If he doesn't even notice those supermodels who're always around him, I doubt he'll even notice you."

Sakuno gave her an amused look. "Don't worry, Morghanna, I'm not interested."

Morghanna returned her look with skepticism and hilarity as she added some orange spices into the boiling pot. "That's what the last maid said to me. '_Oh, I won't touch one single strand of hair on Ryoma's gorgeous head_,' she said…And what do you know? She turned out to be a thief and ended up stealing half of Ryoma's possession."

"What did she do with all of it?"

"Sold it on eBay. Apparently, she made millions."

"Wow. I guess if you put it that way, Echizen-kun can just sell his stuff for a living."

"No doubt. And it's just Echizen."

"What?"

"Honey, we're in America, not Japan."

Sakuno flushed. "R-Right."

_Echizen_. It sounded so foreign and alien to Sakuno, who had always had a habit of calling him Echizen-kun.

"AIYA! What are you doing?" Morghanna screeched abruptly, making Sakuno wince. "The plates, dear! The plates!"

Sakuno looked at the plates. She _was_ stacking them on top each other in the cupboard. Unless they weren't plates, which she was pretty darn sure they were, she didn't exactly know what she was doing wrong.

Seeing Sakuno's confused look, the old housekeeper heaved an impatient sigh. "The gold rims, girl! It can't go with those ceramic plates! And neither can they go with the glass plates. Tut, tut, separate them now, dear."

_Oh, please. _Sakuno thought to herself as she set about rearranging the whole cupboard. _Plates are plates. _Who cares if you stack them above each other?

As she was inwardly complaining about pickiness and how boring life would be if everyone were to be picky, the door bell rang. Morghanna glanced at the clock and lifted the tray where a bowl of hot, steaming ramen and chopsticks lay.

"I'll bring this to the dining room. You go open the door. After, just come and sweep in there." Morghanna said and bustled out of the kitchen.

Not really knowing what to do, Sakuno hurried to open the twin oak doors. Outside stood a tall stranger with messy, cropped black hair and a pair of square glasses that completely covered his eyes. Wearing a black, over-sized t-shirt with the phrase "_I love nerds_" imprinted boldly in front, he was carrying a bag in one head and holding up a cardboard box in the other.

Sakuno and the stranger stared at each other for a few seconds before either of them spoke.

"Inui-senpai!" Sakuno exclaimed, clapping her hands in glee for she recognized the ex-Seigaku Regular. The data freak looked the same as ever; there was no change at all, except for the few tanned lines on his face.

Although Inui's reaction was not as dramatic as Sakuno's, there was a hint of pleasure in his tone. "Ahhh, Ryuuzaki, is it? Long time no see, huh? According to my notebook, we had a total of zero percent chance to meet in New York."

Sakuno cocked her head. "Why zero percent? It's a small world, senpai. We could've seen each other anywhere."

"Well, zero percent simply because it's never recorded in my notebook." Inui said rather shamelessly while he took of his shoes. "And it's just Inui, Ryuuzaki."

Sakuno smiled, walking down the long hallway. "Well, old habits die hard, you see."

"Yes. I can see that. After all, you're wherever Echizen is, isn't that right? Habits, habits, Ryuuzaki.

"What are you doing here, anyway? Apart from trying to catch a glimpse of Ryoma, that is."

Deliberately ignoring the older man's last comment, Sakuno replied, "I'm working here as a housekeeper. You know, getting some money for my college tuition."

"And I suppose you still have a crush on Ryoma, yes?"

"N-No!"

Sakuno halted in her track, her countenance turning the shade of a ripe tomato. Inui continued walking on, pretending he never heard anything. As he was about to turn a corner into the dining room, he replied, "Shame then. It was a good ninety percent chance that you guys would've made the perfect couple in Seigaku. Guess it's still possible though, isn't it?" Before Sakuno could retort, Inui walked in.

Muttering embarrassingly to herself, she grabbed a broom and a pan from a nearby cupboard before entering the dining room. Like all other parts of the house, the dining room was exquisite. In the middle was the dining table, carved from the finest cherry wood and sculpted to suit royalty. It was placed on marvelously textured tiles, with tapestries and curtains that expressed class and sophistication. For the countless time, Sakuno was impressed by Ryoma's refined taste.

On one of the matching chairs by the table sat an eating Ryoma, slurping away on his ramen with a bored looking expression on his face as he listened to Inui.

"So there's the video of your last match. All analyzed and pre-recorded. We need to go over them," Inui said, reading from his green notebook. "Then the new fitness program that I made for you, we'll have to go over that too. Of course, I also created a new way for your footwork-"

He was interrupted by Ryoma. "Ne, girl," Ryoma directed his words at Sakuno, who was rooted in one place, holding her pink broom and matching dustpan. "Do you have a disorder that makes you halt during the middle of a work, or do you make it a habit of listening in on other people's conversation?"

Sakuno blushed furiously. "S-Sorry. I was j-just wondering what Inui-senpai's doing here."

"Does it matter to you?"

"N-No," Sakuno muttered, staring down on the tiled floor. Deeply offended, she wondered why he was being so rude and snappish.

"Ryoma, do you honestly not remember the girl?" Inui asked, analyzing their exchange. Seeing the blank look on Ryoma's face, he sighed. "Well, it's not unexpected, really. As long as it's not tennis or your cat, you forget everything else."

Inui turned to Sakuno. "I'm his fitness coach. I routinely analyze his matches, set up new fitness programs and practice routines, etcetera, etcetera."

"Oh. I always thought that's what the coach does."

"Nope. Echizen's coach is his dad, though with Nanjiroh's…style, even my estimates don't understand how he can help his son win tournaments." There was a snort of protest that came evidently from the other man.

"Anyway," Inui continued, adjusting his glasses and redirecting his focus onto the cardboard box beside him. "Here's the daily protein drinks, Echizen." Taking out a month worth of supplies, Inui lined each bottle of purple liquid one by one right in front of Ryoma, who nodded his thanks.

Seeing Sakuno's incredulous expression, the data freak hastily explained, "It's not bad, you know. Even Echizen here likes the taste. Nothing weird in there," he nodded at the drinks. "Just your normal intake of vitamins, minerals, potassium, and a huge amount of protein. Healthy, healthy, and strictly tasty stuff.

"Of course," Inui let a small, sinister grin. "If Echizen doesn't win a match or live up to my expectations, he'll have to drink_ this_."

Shuffling through the stack of his protein fluid, he managed to pull out a plastic bottle containing a very dark concoction, which, according to Sakuno's eyes, seemed to change into a shade of fluorescent purple in the light.

Ryoma grimaced at the sight.

"This, Ryuuzaki," Inui introduced proudly, his spectacles flashing brilliantly under the kitchen light. "Is called the _Mort-Garaun tea_ – one of my best creations, if I do say so myself. A combination of green tea, protein, potassium, carbs, and my secret recipe. Guaranteed to improve your fitness by ten times within five days.

"Want to try?"

Sakuno forced a smile. "N-No thanks. I had plenty to drink for lunch."

Inui shrugged before popping the cap off and taking a swig himself. "Your loss, then."

Still failing to conjure up a cheerful smile, Sakuno promptly excused herself from the dining room and entered the kitchen, only to see Morghanna busily stuffing some pots and pans into the empty dishwater.

"Ah, there you are, dearie. Done sweeping already?"

"Um…yes." Sakuno answered guiltily. In all honesty, the dining room was spotless – what was she supposed to sweep? Imaginary dust bunnies?

"Good, good. I dare say, you are one fast worker. Now go down to the laundry room, and you should see a blue bucket filled with clean clothes. Those belong to Ryoma, so just fold it and put it in his room."

Doing as she was told, she stumbled up the stairs and knocked open the tennis star's door. Piles and piles of the latest sports magazine were strewn across the floor, accompanied by ponta bottles here and there. Some of his shirts were squashed prettily against the wall, as were his socks, sweat bands, and some assortments of tennis equipment.

Sakuno wrinkled her nose in distaste. _Men. _Yes, it was always up to the women to clean up after them, simply because history had claim that this type of job belonged to the inferior sex. Sakuno was no feminist, but it would really help if the male species had a sense of responsibility.

If one could vanish all the mess and garbage, the room would be quite straightforward and stylish. A majestic office desk was placed right below the enormous glass window, with a computer, desk light, and stationeries nestling neatly on top of it. The bed post itself matched the table, as did the five different drawers in the room.

Stepping gingerly as to avoid injuring herself, Sakuno placed the basket on a particularly empty spot on the carpeted floor before seating herself on the foot of Ryoma's bed. Humming a soft tune to herself, she picked up one of the freshly-cleaned laundry and started to fold.

Something warm and soft brushed against her arm, and it took all of Sakuno's mental will not to squeal like a pig. Looking down, a pair of sly blue orbs stared curiously at her. Swishing her tail like a pendulum, Karupin gave Sakuno a pitiful meow before latching her set of sharp, feline teeth onto one of the startled girl's pigtails.

"Ow, Karupin!" Sakuno rebuked gently, trying to pull her hair out of the cat's stubborn mouth. "Let go, kitty, or else – ow – you're going to tear a whole chunk of my scalp out. Go play with your toys, go on! Shoo!" Karupin continued tugging at her braids.

Seeing that her attempts were failing miserably, she grabbed one of the empty Ponta cans lying forlornly on the ground and chucked it into the corner. With a clang, the bottle bounced off the white-painted walls and landed on the ground, but not before crashing into at least a dozen, empty glass bottles.

Sakuno winced slightly at the sound; Karupin merely blinked as her eyes trailed after the rolling can, her tail still whooshing. At least, the Himalayan cat stopped chewing on her hair.

Scratching her head in annoyance, Sakuno navigated her way through the jungle of junk followed by a meowing Karupin, who was amusing herself pawing at the girl's two dangling pigtails that shook with every step. Sakuno crouched down to pick up the glass bottles when her eyes widened. The label, printed in script and capitalized boldly, read, '_Corona._' While most of the bottles were of the Corona brand, there were many that consisted of _Heineken_, _Blue Light_, and_ Bud_.

Biting her lips, Sakuno refused to think of the worse. Ryoma was a top-class athlete, current number one in the world, and was claimed to be the best in history. He just wouldn't be addicted to _drinking_, would he? Convincing half-heartedly that it was probably from some party, Sakuno straightened.

Her eyes caught two insignificantly small bottles of medicine lying on the window sill. The sun rays were shining through the orange, transparent bottle and unto the cream-colored pills. Cocking her head in curiosity, she picked it up and read the label.

_Trimipramine (TCA)._

Sakuno couldn't quite recall where she had seen it before. Never one for science, she never really discovered what was so interesting about how the human body works, why the sky is blue, and all the odds and ends of the subject. She especially hated biology – the mere sight of blood disgusted her.

Beneath the label was the basic prescribed information: name, date, doctor, and user guide. Knowing that it was none of her business, Sakuno slowly placed the pills back onto the window sill when a voice froze her.

"Snooping isn't a good way to start a job, girl," Ryoma bit out coldly. He was standing by the threshold, leaning against the wooden frame. With narrowed eyes that resembled a irritated cat, his amber orbs regarded Sakuno carefully.

"I-I wasn't t-trying to snoop, honestly!" exclaimed Sakuno, her face red. She fumbled with her hands, twisting and untwisting the end of her white t-shirt. "It – it was Karupin, you see, he-he—"

"Hnnn…Do you generally blame everything on animals? Or is it a habit to blame everything on anything except yourself?" There was a sneer on his face.

Like a doe caught in headlights, she stuttered and muttered, trying to justify herself. This – this was so unlike the Ryoma that she knew. Of course, eight years was a really long time, and everyone was bound to change in appearance and personality. But this was a bit extreme, in her opinion. Ever since he was a kid, he radiated arrogance, ignorance, and talent. And no doubt, he still reeked of those attributes, but with some more addition: he was simply more arrogant, more ignorant, and downright rude. He taunted, yes. He snickered, yes. But he never _sneered_.

"I-I don't – blame – but he was here! A-And-" Sakuno stopped when she realized that Ryoma's beloved cat was nowhere to be seen. _Blasted cat, why does he always disappear when I'm trying to prove something?_ She thought frustratingly.

"Ne, what are you doing in here anyway?"

Sakuno speechlessly pointed at the blue basket of clean-laundry. A look of irritation flitted across his handsome features.

"I'm sure you can do the laundry outside of the room, girl. Next time, don't come in."

Sakuno suppressed the vexation she felt swelling up inside of her. Girl this, girl that! She had a name, for god's sake! Besides, she was twenty – an age that merely passed her as a girl.

"A-Ano-" she said anxiously as Ryoma came into the room. He glanced at her before going back to rummaging through his closet. "I-I do have a name."

"Hmm," Was the reply. The tennis player continued to shuffle his clothes.

"I-it's Sakuno Ryuuzaki!"

Ryoma gave a triumphant smirk as he finally found what he was looking for: his black grip tape.

"So you can stop calling me girl!" Sakuno finally snapped. Ohhh, she was itching to throw something at that messy black hair of his. By god, was he even listening?

Apparently, he was, because he gave her a fleeting look of pure aggravation as if she was a wet, muddy sock stuck unto his feet after a day of practice out in the rain.

Sakuno didn't like the comparison.

Ryoma then strolled out the door without one spare look at Sakuno, who was still rooted to the same spot, seething.

"By the way, _girl_," His voice traveled down the hallway, deliberately emphasizing the word. "Your pigtails are annoying. Cut them."

Oh, that jerk! Yes, he doesn't remember her, but he seemed to remember his dislikes of pigtails.

Sakuno gave an indignant huff before exiting from his despicable room, slamming the door shut with an extra loud bang.

* * *

**Author's Note:** One of my great reviewers corrected me that Karupin was indeed a himalayan cat, and not a siamese. My mistake, and thank you again!

Hope you guys enjoyed.

Read and review.


	3. Cat and Mouse

**Chapter III: Cat and Mouse**

_"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." - William Stekel, 1868 - 1940_

**

* * *

**

Ryoma eyed the two bottles of pills that sat idly on the surface of his glossy desk. One of tangy transparency containing what was left of large, white pills glared back at him. The other one, white and dull, was lifeless compared to its neighbor.

Slumped against the wall beside his bed post, Ryoma tossed the fluorescent tennis ball he was holding, watching it bounce upon the opposite wall and back to him. He continued with his rhythmic movement, taking in the odd comfort it provided. He wasn't particularly sure if it was the ball that relieved him of his stress, or the fact that the glow of his lamp against the dark background of his room supplied him the ease that he sought.

Ryoma shrugged subconsciously. Perhaps it was a combination of both, but the funny thing was, he didn't even know the reason of his distress.

Sitting loyally beside him was Karupin, whose feline orbs trailed again and again after the ball. Her tail swish backed and forth, and Ryoma was reminded of a terribly fuzzy car swisher.

Rubbing her ears, he leaned his head back and sighed.

He was tired.

Tired of people, tired of life, and tired of everything in general. As much as he hated to admit it, tennis was the least of his priorities now. Tennis had been fun back in high school, and it had certainly given him a boost of his ego when he started winning tournaments in the pro world. Now, he trudged into the courts with about as much enthusiasm as a kindergartener attempting to solve calculus. Not that he wasn't winning regularly, but tennis seemed to have lost its pace and excitement.

He wanted away.

Catching the ball in his hands, Ryoma tossed it aside, glancing at the digital numbers of his alarm clock. The red, flashing digits showed four o'clock in the morning. On a whim, the tennis star grabbed his phone and dialed the one person who could arrange everything.

"Inui," Ryoma said tonelessly. "I need a favor."

"Yes, I know its goddamn four in the morning. And no, it can't wait."

Karupin cocked her head.

"Stop mumbling."

The cat rubbed her head affectionately against Ryoma's side, purring in delight when he returned her actions with an absentminded scratch on the ears.

"I want a year worth of sick leave."

A paw swapped gently against the tennis star's arms, vying for the attention that was being promptly ignored.

"Duh. I'm _not_ sick."

"So? Screw the competitions. Screw the people. Screw the money."

Karupin purred loudly.

"The ATP? Screw them too."

"No, that's not a hooker. It's my cat purring."

Ryoma rubbed his nose in irritation.

"_No_, I'm not screwing my cat."

The statement was agreed by a pleasant meow.

"I'm sick." With that, Ryoma hung up none too gently, startling his beloved cat, who had somehow ended up crawling onto her master's lap.

Grabbing the two bottles of pills, Ryoma glanced at the transparent one before tossing it aside, and then swiftly popped a pill from the other one. Forcing it down with a chug of grape-flavored Ponta, he closed his eyes.

Accompanying those thoughts, Ryoma drowned into an uncomfortable sleep with a purring guard-cat lying lazily by his side.

* * *

Sakuno, having acquired a spare set of house key from Morghanna and her complaints of a suffering back, let herself into the mansion. Humming cheerfully, she took of her shoes and placed it neatly by a stool, and was pleasantly surprised to find an extra pair of runners and a pair of classy, high heel shoes. 

With curiosity filling her, she strode down the large hallway in a brilliant mood. In her opinion, her first test of the semester was more than well done; her essay and footnotes were highly complimented by her professor to the point that she was glowing with pride. Yup, Sakuno was happy.

As she neared the kitchen, the mumbling of noises gradually grew into a loud, obviously frustrating confrontation. There were three voices, two of which Sakuno was able to depict – Ryoma and Inui – and a third one that belonged to a woman.

"Ryoma-kun! I understand that you want a break, but having a sick leave for a year?"

Leaning against the wall, Sakuno thought the speaker would've had a nice, pleasant voice if she wasn't trilling like a bird about to become a barbeque dish. But granted, dealing with a person like Ryoma often tended to leave people like that.

"What are you going to say to the media?" Inui spoke in a rather calm manner, considering the situation at hand.

"Tuberculosis."

Sakuno rolled her eyes. She could even detect a hint of exasperation emitting from Inui's usual calm exterior. Shooting a look down the hallway and relieved that she haven't been spotted Morghanna's hawk-like eyes, Sakuno continued to listen. She knew that it was technically wrong to be listening in on people's privacy, but really, it was never inscribed onto her list of ten must-not-do commandments. Besides, Sakuno thought, trying to ease her sense of guilt, if it was Ryoma or Tomoka who was in her position, they would've done the same.

"Tuberculosis? Interesting choice, but it's been long gone from the states. Unless you've been to Africa lately for a tournament, then I'm afraid it's out of the question."

"Polio."

"Well…that might work. You can't play if you have paralysis."

The woman exploded. "_Polio_? There hasn't _been_ a case of polio for the last twenty years! Unless you somehow break into a lab and dump what's left of existing samples, then stop pretending to be stupid! Are you trying to be dense?"

"Huh?"

Sakuno could very well picture the sarcasm dripping from the tennis star.

"Okay, I understand that you want a break, and I understand that you have problems to deal with," the woman's tone, having deflated a bit, was much softer and gentler. It reminded Sakuno awfully of a mother trying to bribe a child from giving up his blanket. "The thing is you won't tell us what the problem is, you're not taking the medication that the doctors prescribed, and you just suddenly decide to take a leave off the tour! I've been with you since you were a kid, Ryoma-kun, and I know you better than you do yourself. Please, just… tell us what's wrong."

"I have a chronic pain-in-the-ass syndrome caused by nosy women and nagging fitness coaches."

The scraping of a chair and shuffling sounds were heard before a sigh was emitted.

"Please. We're not trying to be annoying out of fun, Ryoma-kun, but we're seriously worried."

"I have tuberculosis, polio, and chronic pain."

Inui, who had remain quiet throughout the whole time, finally spoke. "Echizen, you owe me the truth for waking me up at four in the morning. I like my sleep almost as much as I love my drinks."

"I also have an additional hearing problem from listening to too many verbal diarrhea -"

"Ryoma-kun!"

"- and am suffering from emotional trauma after the attempted harassment of my personal life."

"What will you say to your father?" This question, asked by Inui, seemed to have silence both the woman and the tennis star. For a few moments, no one spoke up, and even Sakuno was afraid that her breathing might be too loud.

"He'll understand." Instead of the bored, unenthusiastic tone that Ryoma had use before, it was now bordering on a flat, lifeless quality.

"Will he, really?"

"He gave it up too, eventually."

"Not for the same reason!" The woman cried in exasperation. "He gave it up because of you! He found hope within you and nurtured you into becoming something that he couldn't achieve himself! Ryoma, stop being stubborn! Admit to yourself that you're miserable, and accept the help that we're offering!"

"You're wrong," Ryoma replied flatly.

It was when Sakuno heard footsteps approaching the exit of the dining room that she realized that the conversation had somehow come to an end. Scrambling to upright herself, she was greeted by an unpleasantly scowling Ryoma, who never even glanced at her before passing by and stalking away.

Sakuno wondered if it was the right time to enter the kitchen. If she went in now, it was possible that Inui would probably guess what she was doing before she entered the room, and the result wouldn't be pretty. However, staying outside and waiting for the storm to calm was rather risky too, if one counted on the fact that Morghanna might swoop out of nowhere like a raving mother eagle and poke her eyes out to feed to her hungry babies. Weighing the risks, the data freak's analysis of what-she-was-doing-hiding-outside-the-door seemed a bit safer and much more safe-proof.

The woman sat by the table with her hands wrapped around a mug of hot tea and a look of pure exasperation on her face. In Sakuno's eyes, she was beautiful. In her late twenties, she had on only a dash of makeup that enhanced her navy-blue eyes and brought out her high cheekbones. Her delicate nose and mid-length blue hair only further beautified her features. Instead of the haughty exterior that usually accompanied such a slender figure, she had a demure and optimistic aura surrounding her. She was the epitome of what Sakuno always wanted to be.

"Oh!" the woman said, her blues eyes lighting up at the sight of her. "You must be Sakuno! Thank you so very much for helping us! We were really in need of someone to help around the house, since Ryoma-kun doesn't do much and Morghanna can only do so much!"

"Oh! N-no, thank _you _for hiring me. I-I was really in need of a job a-and Morghanna j-just hired me!" Sakuno replied, extremely flustered at the sincerity the woman was showing her.

"No, no, no need to thank me. I'm just glad that we found someone, since Ryoma-kun fires most of the new housekeeper. But anyways, I'm Nanako – Ryoma-kun's cousin and accountant. Well, sort of…I deal mostly with his financial things."

Nanako then stood up and offered her hand, which extremely aggravated an already flushing Sakuno. Taking it, she was gestured to sit.

"So, Sakuno, how do you find my cousin?"

"O-oh! Well, he – he _is_ amazing at tennis."

"I don't mean _that_. I meant his personality – you know, _mada__mada__dane_ kind of Ryoma."

"Oh! Um…he's very…interesting," Sakuno finished lamely. More like rude, abrasive, and uncouth.

"Interesting is an interesting description," Nanako replied dryly. "If he ever bothers you, don't feel shy about coming up to me. I'll get Inui to feed him his – what do you call those, Inui?"

"The Mort-garaun tea."

She grimaced. "Oh yes,_ that_."

Sakuno quickly reassured the woman that Ryoma had been decent to her and that if anything out of the ordinary happens, she would immediately find her. Although it was far cry from the truth, Sakuno had not doubt that Nanako would feed her cousin Inui's ghastly drink, and no one deserved that.

"Ah, that reminds me! I have to talk to Morghanna about the rose bushes in front. I planted them myself, you see," Nanako told Sakuno with a worried expression. "But recently, they've been losing their colors. Maybe they're sick? Do you know anything about plants, Sakuno?"

The girl in question offered her a rueful smile.

"Maybe I've been feeding them the wrong plant food. Ah, well, I'm just going to track Morghanna down. I'll be right back!" With a cheery wave, she left.

Inui and Sakuno watched her go wordlessly.

"Quite a person, isn't she?" he said wistfully.

Although Sakuno had been told that she could be rather dense and naïve at times, she was not stupid enough to miss the longing tone presented in Inui's tone.

Her eyes widened. "Inui-san, forgive me for asking, but are you _interested_?" cried Sakuno in a mixture of fascination and horror.

"She's happily married and has a two-year-old boy. And if my brain didn't fail me, I'm guessing she's a bit too old for me."

"B-but you didn't deny the fact that y-you like her!"

"Ryuuzaki, do you know what cures people of nosiness?"

"Um…no?"

"My mort-garaun tea. A teaspoon of it can reduce the adrenaline that causes nosiness by sixty-percent. Of course, side effects may include nausea, drowsiness, vomiting, and insomnia, but really, a dose of it every now and then would be healthy for a girl like you."

Sakuno forced a smile. "I-I'm sorry. I-it's just that I w-would never expect that-" Seeing the flash of light across Inui's glasses and having no doubt that it was somehow forewarning her, she continued, "That you a-are such a genius at creating drinks! U-uh, you should get it FDA-approved."

"Why, thank you."

"N-no problem."

"Hm. Ryoma forgot his drink again," the data freak said speculatively, scratching lightly under his chin before turning towards Sakuno. "Can you take it to him? He should be practicing or jogging around the court. And stop eyeing me like that. It's a daily protein drink – and make sure he actually _drinks_ it. He…uh…tends to pour it in rose bushes."

Sakuno nodded hesitantly. Knowing Ryoma's current foul mood, he would probably end up biting her head off. But before she complied to her task, she turned to Inui with an incredulous expression.

"You_ still_ like her even though she's married?"

"Ryuuzaki."

"Have you met the husband?"

"Ryuuzaki."

"Have you met the kid?"

"Ryuuzaki, tell me, what were you doing before you entered? It's too much of a coincidence that you just suddenly decided to make your presence known right after our confrontation. So, either you were outside, eavesdropping on the conversation, or you were outside, _not_ eavesdropping on the conversation. You see, it's a fifty-fifty guess, but judging by your guilty look when you came in, I'm a hundred percent sure it's the former. Now, some parts of the conversation were crucial, and I don't know about your trustworthiness, so-"

"D-doesn't Ryoma need his drink immediately? I-I'll bring it to him now!"

Taking the cup that had astoundingly appeared from Inui's hand and emitting a forced laughter, she navigated her way around the mansion to the back door. When she found it, she felt extremely proud of herself for not getting lost – it seemed that her imbedded navigational radar was improving.

From a distance, she could see the two courts, and it occurred to her that Inui was unusually wrong on both accounts. For one, Ryoma was definitely not practicing, and neither was he jogging. All that the tennis player was doing was slumping against a giant oak tree, with his white cap lowered enough to cover half his face.

Cautiously, she treaded quietly towards him and dipped down to lift his hat upwards. Biting her lips from smiling, she silently admired the peaceful expression on his face as the shadows from the tapestry of leaves above them danced. His slow breathing was in harmony to the breeze that was also ruffling against both Sakuno and his messy, black hair.

Sakuno slowly let the cap fall back in place as she spotted a hazel squirrel nearby, scurrying across the grass lawn. Sitting down opposite of him, she titled her head back and glanced at the cloudless sky, listening serenely to the birds chatter.

"Ne, Ryoma-kun," Sakuno spoke gently, knowing that he was still in the midst of dreamland. "How do you catch a squirrel?"

A pause. Sighing, she answered, "You have to climb up a tree and act like nut. Get it?"

Her terribly intelligent answer was greeted with silence.

"Okay. Well, why didn't the chicken cross the road?" – _a__ pause_ – "Because it was too chicken."

She didn't know if it was just paranoia, but she kind of thought that the birds had stopped their chirping.

"Hmmm…Let's try again! Where do cows like to hang out? The mooooo-vies."

Ryoma continued snoring away.

"Well, obviously, you lack a sense of a humor. Oh, this is my favorite one! Why are E.T.'s eyes so big?" –_silence_ – "Because he saw the phone bill!"

Quietly giggling at her own jokes, Sakuno wondered if she was quite right in the head. Perhaps she was suffering from a post-stress disorder from too many last-minute cramming, but she felt lighter and happier than she had in days. Maybe it could just be the unusually warm autumn day – it _was_ beautiful outside, a big contrast to New York's infamous frosty weather.

Once her sudden bout of euphoria swept away, Sakuno sighed and looked down at the hunter green liquid that she was still holding. She scrunched her petite nose up in disgust when she scented it, and wondered at how Ryoma could stand this quotidian routine. Perhaps it tasted better than it smelled.

Gently settling the cup beside his sprawled out body, Sakuno took one long, lasting look at him. "You better drink this," she chided at him. "Don't pour this in the rose bushes. I passed by it before I came here, and it _did_ look grey-ish. Nanako's not going to be happy if she finds out what you've been doing to her plants."

Cocking her head, she continued, "You know, if you were an animal, you'd be a cat. I mean, cats are lazy, clean, they do whatever they please, and if given the chance, they'd sleep all day long if they could. That's exactly like you. I guess it's true when people say that pets resemble their owners."

For some odd reason, Sakuno couldn't stop her ramblings. It was as if Tomoka's soul had travelled three thousand kilometers from Tokyo to New York and had miraculously taken over her body.

"Well, it was fun talking to you, you know, with your great sense of humor and all. I'd better get back to cleaning before Morghanna stabs me with a broom and before you wake up and be all rude to me."

Forget Tomoka's soul – it was more like she got taken over by Horio's mouth.

"That reminds me, Ryoma-kun, I don't mind that you don't remember me, but it'd be nice if you'd call me something else other than 'girl.' Like, my name, for instance, would be quite nice. As for your branding me insane when I jumped out of that tree, it was Karupin's fault. You ought to train your cat sometimes, but I guess you being all famous and busy doesn't allow you to do that."

Sakuno would eventually reason that this bout of blabber-mouthing and non-stop flow of information out of her usually clamped mouth was due to the fact that she hadn't had a proper conversation in so long. All she did, day and night, was school, work, and school. She was human, and she needed to socialize after all. What better ways than to take advantage of the current opportunity presented before her? And Ryoma, being asleep, was a _very_ good listener.

"Well, to sum it up: I have a name, your cat is cute but she has issues, you shouldn't be so mean to people, you should try to remember who I am, and stop dumping Inui drinks into Nanako's rose bushes. Did I forget anything? Oh, and you would be a cat in your next life.

"Well, I honestly better go. It was fun talking to you, Ryoma-kun. You were actually nice to me. You should sleep more often."

Happy that most of her thoughts had been spoken, Sakuno gently crept away. How lovely it was, to have someone just sit there and listen to her pointless lament. It was just an additional bonus that they wouldn't make some snide remark. Maybe she should do it more often.

But not even a few meters away from where the sleeping tennis star lay, a voice she dreaded froze her.

"Ne," the speaker was familiar. Too, _too_ familiar for comfort. "If you were an animal, you'd be a mouse because you're timid, you whimper in front of everyone and anyone, you scurry like one, and if given the chance, would bury yourself in a hole and never come out."

Sakuno stood rooted to the spot, paling several shades before darkening into all shades of red known to mankind. It would've made the creator of Photoshop proud.

"I call you girl because I don't remember your name, but since you talked me to death, I'll compromise and call you 'mouse' instead." There was an underlying tone that told Sakuno that he was evidently smirking.

Slowly, as if impending her doom, Sakuno turned around at a snail's pace. Ryoma was still in the very position as she had first seen him, with his back slumped against the tree trunk and his cap draped over his cat-like eyes.

Wondering if she could take the fact that Ryoma hadn't even looked at her, and thus, meaning that he didn't _really_ know if she still was there (she had, after all, been walking away pretty silently), Sakuno debated on whether to make a run for it and pretended nothing ever happened. She could always lie and tell him that he had a weird dream.

Maybe she'll actually take Ryoma's comment to heart – she'll just scurry away and bury herself into a hole.

"So, mouse," Ryoma's amused voice came floating through the autumn breeze. "Before you scurry off and bury yourself into a hole, who the hell told you those pathetic jokes?"

Well, Sakuno figured that she was never decent at lying anyways.

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, it's been a forever since I've typed anything. BI is on hiatus right now (I have to go back and do some major re-editing), but I'd like to work on Desperation as of now. So, to inspire me, people, come with the reviews! 


	4. The Devil's Two Spawns

**Chapter IV: The Devil's Two Spawns**

"_We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell." – Oscar Wilde, 1854 – 1900

* * *

_

"Okay, you guys, boxers or briefs?"

Sakuno, who was gently applying whip cream on a cup of steaming white mocha, did not react to that particular question directed to her from her friend. Having always been a bit of a perfectionist, Sakuno furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, making sure the whip cream was properly twirled and floating in the centre of the cup.

"There you go, ma'am," she chirped, "a tall, decaf, half-sweetened white mocha with peppermint!"

Seeing that there were no customers lining up, Sakuno rubbed her hands on her apron and finally turned towards the source of the question. Her friends, Sayoko and Keira, shot her a disgusted look.

"That," the latter pointed out, "was a bit too sweet for my likings."

"Yeah," the former piped in, a look of revulsion marring across her face. "Who would want to be nice to _that_ old bat?"

Sakuno shrugged as she washed her hands. "Just because she took a long time to order doesn't mean you shouldn't like her. Be nice, Keira! She's old."

"And grumpy," Keira muttered underneath her breath, before flinging both arms up to show her exasperation. Two years older than Sakuno, Keira had always shown a bit of a feisty streak that many customers didn't appreciate very much, especially those that had a tendency to be fussy about their orders. As a roommate, she had been the one to recommend Sakuno for the position as a part-time worker at Starbucks.

"Hear, hear!"

Sayoko was the very first Japanese girl Sakuno met when she came to New York, and having a common language and a common culture, they got along well at first glance. Generally a sweet girl who didn't know when to shut her mouth, Sayoko was a law student and a procrastinator – a combination that didn't go too well.

Thus, there she was, twirling her pen and nibbling on her fingers, staring placidly at the piece of paper before her.

"So, like I said before, boxers or briefs?"

Sakuno wrinkled her nose. Sayoko's weekly assignment was to pick a random topic and pick a side. She supposed it was a rather effective method of training the mind, but letting the students pick their own themes was a bit too much in her opinion. There was once when Sayoko decided to do a write-up of whether Brad Pitt or Orlando Bloom was hotter, and although Brad had a cuter ass and Orlando a sexier body, it was ultimately the latter who had won the argument; only because he had a British accent. The fact that he was single and not tied down to five orphans was a bonus too.

To Sakuno, she had no idea how this was ever going to help in a court case. Unless one of them sued each other for not having what each other had, then it was all a moot point.

"Definitely briefs," Keira contributed lazily, sitting on the counter and stretching lazily like a cat. As always, a few customers gave her the old eyeful, and the woman preened under their attention, flaunting her pretty figure and even prettier face.

"Why?"

"Because, stupid," she replied with a flick of her conditioned blonde hair, "It shows the sexy butt that we girls are so fond of."

"Hmmm." With a thoughtful look and a few seconds of contemplative silence, Sayoko started scribbling onto her piece of blank paper.

Seeing Sakuno busily sweeping the floor, Keira's green eyes lighted up in a wicked twinkle. "So, Sakuno darling," she purred. "I heard from Sayoko that you got yourself hired as a housekeeper to a very, _very_ rich man."

Sakuno eyed her warily. "Yes…"

"Does the man have sons? Or better yet, is he single?"

According to Sakuno's knowledge of her friend, she knew that if Keira gained the information that her employer was not only a very, _very_ rich man, but also a famous, single, teenage heartthrob who conquered the tennis world, chaos would ensue.

"Uh…he's single, I think."

It might be true. For all she knew, Ryoma might be secretly dating some supermodel behind the media's back. She once read on the internet that he had saved a beautiful, exotic girl from falling into the hands of slavery, and the girl, so grateful was she, expressed her undying love for him under the Eiffel tower in Paris. Her personal favorite was a blasphemy that claimed that Echizen Ryoma had bravely rescued a girl of highest caste from the jaws of a hungry tiger whilst touring in India. In exchange, the family offered their daughter's hand in marriage. God knew what the tiger had been doing, wandering around the streets of Bombay like some blubbering idiot. There wasn't even a tennis tournament there, for god's sake.

"Oh, my. Age?"

"Um…not sure…never really seen him." It was a true white lie, and Sakuno hated it. Nevertheless, the thought that Keira would threaten her to introduce her to Ryoma or else endure a blinding scratch from her perfectly manicured nails was not very soothing. It was good that she had her back turned and was busily sweeping, or else Keira would've caught the lie in seconds flat.

"Well, if you ask me, if he's single and young, go for him, girl. If he's old…well, Viagra should do the trick."

"Keira!"

She sniffed. "What? Get yourself pregnant, get some child support, and drop the baby on its head when you get the money."

"That's so mean! How can you say that?"

"I'm just kidding! Lighten up, Sakuno! It's a joke! Go for him though, if he's available. Otherwise, you'll lose your chance of becoming one of the rich and snobby. I mean, you're a sweet girl, and you don't look bad, but you just need a change of style."

Sakuno had never found anything wrong with her style. A simple pair of jeans donned with a sweater was as comfortable as it gets. Although, now that she thought of it, she did pale in comparison with her glamorous friend who smacked her paychecks on makeup counters and made shopping a quotidian routine.

"Okay," interrupted Sayoko, relieving Sakuno of the mortification of having to converse with her gold-digging friend. "So briefs emphasize the curves and the toned muscles of the behinds of the male species. Anything else?"

"It makes the front lower half of the male species look much more…shall we say, _enticing_?"

"Hmmm. Good point."

"Although come to think of it, boxers cover everything but they certainly leave something for the imagination. It's not as disappointing when you see men in briefs and their fronts happen to be_ so_ puny, you get what I mean?"

* * *

Sakuno arrived at Ryoma's mansion at exactly four o'clock. Entering the kitchen, she halted in surprise when she saw the tennis player surrounded by stacks and stacks of paper. He had his nose buried in a book and was scribbling furiously. The sight was so atypical that Sakuno had to pinch herself to confirm if this wasn't all just a dream and that hell hasn't frozen over. 

"Ow!"

Oops. Maybe she had pinched herself a tad bit too hard.

Ryoma's head shot up. Seeing who it was, he smirked before refocusing his attention onto his paper.

Sakuno stiffened. What a jerk! Ever since that day in which she had spoken to him under that tree, he would smirk at her in that annoying I-owned-you way every time she made her presence known. It wasn't as if she had gone and poured her deepest and darkest secret out (not that she had any to begin with).

The only big secret she had was the knowledge that Sayoko's goldfish, Billy-Boy, wasn't really Billy-Boy. Her friend had left her beloved pet in Sakuno's care while she went off dallying in Paris with her boyfriend, and Sakuno, being Sakuno, accidently tripped over her own chair and sent the fish bowl sprawling. While running to the kitchen in a desperate attempt to fill the bowl, she slipped on the water and fell splat on top of the poor fish.

So now the goldfish in the bowl should really be a Billy-Girl (courtesy of the pet store and their amazing ability to differ the genders of fishes), but Sayoko really didn't need to know that. In fact, when Sakuno buried the fish in her pot of dying fern for extra fertilization, she thought that it was rather kind of her to have saved the fish from several more minutes of struggle.

"You're late!" Morghanna, having just finished dusting, entered the kitchen and smacked Sakuno's head with a dustpan.

"Ow!" Rubbing her head and ignoring the amused expression on the tennis star's face, Sakuno sulked. "B-But I was on time! It's exactly four o'clock."

"Four o'clock means that you should be in your uniform and have a broom in your hands!" barked the old housekeeper. "I do not tolerate laziness, I do not tolerate lateness, and I certainly do not tolerate both laziness _and_ lateness!"

"Yes, Morghanna," murmured the petite brunette.

"Hmph. Make sure this doesn't happen next time. I'll do the laundry and you'll start on the dishes. We'll be having guests over soon." With that, Morghanna bustled off.

As Sakuno got herself ready for the menial task, she suppressed the burning curiosity that was building inside of her. What Ryoma was writing? Remembering that he had not so long ago told her to _mind her own business, _she simply sighed and donned on some gloves. Just as her hands inched towards the tap, Ryoma's voice interrupted her.

"Mouse-girl, get me a cup of water."

Wrinkling her nose at the nickname, Sakuno did as she was told. When she placed the glass in front of him, he stopped writing and looked at the water.

"I want a cup of _iced_ water."

When Sakuno placed a cup of _iced _water on the table, Ryoma only raised an eyebrow.

"I changed my mind. I want orange juice."

Biting her lips, the petite brunette threw open the fridge, her actions articulating her obvious exasperation. She grabbed a bottle of Tropicana and shook it none-too-gently before dumping its content into a mug.

The tennis star was once again unsatisfied. "I wanted no pulp."

Sakuno gritted her teeth and crumbled her hands into a fist.

_Money, money, money_, _Sakuno. Money, money, money. It's a beautiful thing. Calm down, Sakuno. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. _

Ryoma, who was watching the whole thing with shameless enjoyment, asked, "Ne, Mouse-girl, are you pregnant?"

"W-What?" Sakuno asked incredulously, her face flushed.

"I've seen Nanako do that when she wanted to calm down. When she was pregnant, that is."

"No! I-I'm not pregnant! That's a stu-stupid idea!"

Before he could interrogate any further, Sakuno quickly grabbed the orange juice from his hands.

The nerve of him! He was such a shameless, arrogant, smirking idiot!

_Relax, Sakuno! You're not stupid enough to fall for his game. This time, if he says he doesn't want orange juice _without_ pulp, tell him to go to hell!_

When she had filtered the cup of juice, she slammed the mug onto the table to prove her point. The tennis star, his face passive, only shot the navy-colored mug a glance before asking, "What kind of person drinks orange juice from a _mug_? Change it."

"G-go to h-hell!" Even to Sakuno's ears, it was rather unconvincing and rather on the inaudible side.

Ryoma raised his eyebrows. "What did you say?"

"I-I s-said-"

"Ah…I just remembered I forgot to ask Nanako to write the paychecks yesterday. So, what did you say before?"

"I-I said ….good, you have nice hair!" Sakuno babbled without thinking, and turned a tomato red when she realized what had come out of her mouth. God, if only she had the power to force the floor to swallow her. Pretending to faint like a damsel in distress certainly seemed like an appealing idea right at the moment.

At least, 'good, you have nice hair' sounded relatively like 'go to hell."

Ryoma's I-owned-you smirk appeared once again. However, before he could say anything, Morghanna swooped in like an owl. Sakuno had never felt more relieved at her entrance.

"What," Morghanna screeched cattily after a quick look at the sink and it's pile of untouched, greasy dishes. "Are you doing? Fifteen minutes, Sakuno, fifteen minutes and you haven't lifted a single dish!"

"B-but Ryoma-kun wanted w-water and-"

"Then get him water!"

Sakuno winced. "B-but then h-he wanted c-cold water!"

"Then get him cold water!"

"Then he wanted-"

"Ta, ta, ta! Excuses! Look, girlie, I may have judged you too quick. Seems like you aren't as dependable as you look," Morghanna sighed. Turning to Ryoma, who was pretending successfully that he had no matter in the whole conversation and was busy writing, she softened her tone. "Ryoma, dearie, is everything alright? Did the silly little girl bother you much? I'm terribly sorry, darling. She's new and very untrained – a good spanking should do the trick."

Sakuno swallowed. _Spanking_? What age was this?

Ryoma looked up from his papers, his countenance devoid of any emotions. "Hnn. No, it's fine."

"You're too kind."

If Sakuno were that kind of girl, she would have pretended to vomit in front of both their faces. But unfortunately, she didn't have the courage, and could only calm her displeasure by telling herself that if this was in her own fantasy, she could and would stomp him to pieces. And he would come begging to the high and almighty Ryuuzaki Sakuno for an apology.

The thought was very comforting.

"Sakuno, you silly girl! Apologize to Ryoma right now!"

"B-But I've got nothing-"

"Now!"

Glaring at a Ryoma, who remained as impassive as ever, she muttered, "I'm sorry."

Before Morghanna could say anything more, the doorbell rang. _Saved by the bell, _Sakuno thought as she thanked the heavens above. She would've happily volunteered to get the door if not for Morghanna bustling out of the kitchen, screeching at her to get off her 'bony, undersized ass' and start doing the dishes.

As soon as the old housekeeper was out of sight, Sakuno turned to Ryoma.

"Y-You evil, evil person!"

Ryoma blinked at her, a picture of pure innocence. "What the hell are you blabbering about?"

"H-How dare you do that! Y-You didn't even have the decency t-to tell her that it's your entire fault?"

"How is it my fault for you being incompetent?

"But y-you!"

"I, what?"

"I c-can't believe-"

His face blank and his tone bored, Ryoma redirected his attention onto his paper. "Are you quite done yet? For a mouse, you talk too much."

It was then that the whole situation abruptly registered in Sakuno's mind.

"You did it on purpose! You made me pour water and then orange juice so that I wouldn't be able to do the dishes! And you _knew_ that Morghanna would kill me!"

"Hnn."

"Listen to me, y-you big, big, evil smirking jerk!"

"Mada mada dane."

* * *

"Neil, say hi to Sakuno." 

"I don't want to."

"Neil! What has mommy told you about being polite to people?"

"But she's ugly! I don't want to be polite to ugly people."

"Neil!"

"And she's a_ girl_. Girls are _stupid_." Neil, with his blue eyes shining defiantly, glared at a sheepish Sakuno before turning to his mother. Nanako merely sighed at her eight-year-old son's childish antics.

"I'm a girl, too, you know. So is your sister."

"Yeah, but you're my _mom_. You aren't qualified to be stupid. Uncle Ryoma says that stupidity is inherited, so if you _are_ stupid, then I would be too. And my sister…is my sister, so she's not qualified to be stupid either. I won't let her be stupid."

Rolling her eyes, Nanako said under her breath, "And I must give a proper talk to your Uncle Ryoma." Louder, she scolded, "Neil, apologize to Sakuno right now."

"_No_!"

Sakuno smiled awkwardly. As much of a brat as Neil was, he was still very much a child, and Sakuno had always adored children. "Nanako-san! It's okay, really."

Nanako sighed tiredly and rubbed her temples as her son merely stuck out his tongue before shooting off. She shot Sakuno a rueful smile.

"I'm terribly sorry. He's always been uncontrollable – god knows only his dad can make him do anything. And Ryoma. But that's only because Ryoma would let him do anything as he pleased."

"Oh! No, no! It's absolutely fine. I really don't mind at all! He's very cute."

Nanako, who had sat herself down by the kitchen and had her hands propped against her face, snorted in amusement. Her lips twitched. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but he's spoiled rotten and everybody knows it. If all you can come up with is 'he's very cute,' it shows how bad he _really_ is."

Sakuno looked at her, horrified. "N-No! I don't mean anything like that. I-I simply meant that h-he _is_ cute and he's pretty intelligent!"

Nanako laughed. "Please, it's fine, Sakuno. I don't need lies. At least, it's good to know that my daughter isn't also on the road to evil." She turned her attention to where Ryoma was supposedly to be writing. Sakuno followed her gaze only to spot a petite girl hopping up and down by his legs, her two, short pigtails bouncing up and down.

"Uncle Roo, Uncle Roo! Hug, hug!" Naomi cried, her stubby, little hands reaching up to Ryoma, completely oblivious to her uncle's scowling mood and unwillingness. "Uncle Roooooooo!" The girl, seeing no response, gave a small pout and stomped her foot, her large blue eyes tearing up.

"Naomi, don't." Ryoma warned, looking warily at his niece's quivering lips. As the shaking intensified, he sighed and reached down, propping Naomi's little body up as if she was a cabbage patch doll.

"Yay, yay!" the little girl cried out in joy and clapped her hands excitedly. Giggling, she swung her arms around his neck.

Sakuno raised an eyebrow. Seeing the usual stubborn tennis star succumbed to Naomi's bidding was a bizarre sight. It was good to know that while he was still a jerk, he had enough virtue left in him to submit to a kid's plea.

"I love you, Uncle Roo," cooed a perfectly satisfied Naomi, who was in the midst of burying her head into Ryoma's neck and snuggling closer.

A look of exasperated pain shot across the tennis star's face. "Right."

Naomi pulled back and cocked her head, looking at her uncle with the utmost questionability. Her blue eyes blinked several times. "Don't you love me too, Uncle Roo?"

"Uh…I didn't say I don't love you."

"B-but mommy always says 'I love you' back whenever I say 'I love you' to her."

"Right."

"So do you love me?"

"Yeah."

Naomi's lips started quivering again. "You don't love me, Uncle Roo!"

Ryoma gritted his teeth, feeling uncomfortable. "I do."

"You do what?" The question was accompanied by several sniffles.

"Love you. So stop _crying_."

Sakuno giggled at Ryoma's obvious frustration over Naomi's gleeful squeal. As much of an indifferent behavior he had put up, it was clear that he was still too much of a softie to deny a kid's wishes.

"How old is she?" Sakuno asked Nanako.

"She just turned five a week ago. Her brother's eight."

"She's a real sweetheart."

"Thank god. I don't think I can handle another sociopath in the family."

"Well, kids grow, and when they do, they-"

"Hey, Mouse Girl!"

Sakuno turned to Ryoma, only to find him holding Naomi, who was desperately trying to bury her arm into his mouth, an arm length away.

"Yes?"

"I'm not paying you to have a nice chat. Do your job – mmph!"

Sakuno was inwardly satisfied to see that Nanako's daughter had accomplished her mission – her chubby hands had somehow managed to shove its way inside the tennis player's mouth. Sighing, she took one last glance before she left the kitchen, only to see the mother trying to desperately persuade her daughter to release Ryoma's tongue.

Bumping into Inui on the way out and exchanging a pleasant greeting, Sakuno exited but not before hearing Inui's question.

"Who drinks orange juice from a _mug_?"

* * *

The windows were slightly ajar, and the autumn breeze wiggled its way gently through the crack, leaving the brown strands of Sakuno's hair in a slight tumble. She sighed. It was an incredibly beautiful day outside with the blue sky dotted with thin pieces of floating clouds. The birds were chirping, the grass was swaying, and here she was, stuck in class and compelled to listen to the droning words of her professor. 

She loved her world literature class to pieces, and her professor was a very optimistic and open-minded kind of guy – a rarity among teachers nowadays. However, Sakuno didn't think it was completely fair to be stuck in a room full of ignorant students that had a tendency to flick eraser bits at one another whilst she always listened attentively, only to be bothered by their constant beeping that a text message had arrived. It wasn't as if she could concentrate in such an environment.

She sighed once more. If only something interesting would just happen.

"Psychoanalysis, developed by Freud Sigmund, has been incorporated throughout literature in history, as can been seen in _The Catcher in the Rye, Crime and -"_

The opening of the door abruptly interrupted Professor Finnegan's lecture, and outside, stood a student with a thick pair of glasses with an odd-looking hat that reminded Sakuno awfully of what a newspaper boy would've worn in the sixties.

He was carrying a stack of paper and a miserable scowl was etched across his countenance.

"Ah," Professor Finnegan spoke up. "Thank you for finally joining us, Mr. Kunimitsu."

Sakuno cocked her head at that name. _Familiar_. He looked too familiar.

The boy simply ignored him and headed for Finnegan's desk, rudely dumping the contents onto the irritated professor's desk before strolling off in search for a seat.

"Sit in the far corner by Miss Ryuuzaki, please."

When he arrived to his designated seat, Sakuno offered him a shy smile. He simply looked away. _Snob_, she inwardly thought, before she caught a glance of his name on one of his papers.

_Fuji Kunimitsu. _

Odd. She very much preferred the name Syuuske Fuji and Tezuka Kunimitsu. It had a better ring to it.

It was only when the boy took off his Inui-like glasses for a rub that Sakuno caught sight of his unhappy cat-like eyes and realized who it was.

Her jaws dropped.

"R-Ryoma-kun?"

* * *

**A/N: **Happy New Year, you guys! One of my new years resolution is to update more, but judging from how I usually achieve one of a hundred resolutions per year...Yeah, but I'll try. 

So here are a few questions I feel compelled to answer.

_How long will this story be?_

About 20 chapters, more or less. Nothing gigantic or jumbo-sized.

_Will we ever be able to see other Seigaku members?_

Of course, of course ;) Without them, where would Ryoma be? We'll certainly see some of them popping up in later chapters, but not everyone will appear. We can't have the whole group decide to fly to New York, can we? I should think the fly attendants would faint from the troubles that would ensue.

_Will Ryoma ever remember Sakuno?_

We'll see. Perhaps, perhaps not. xP But he will become a tad bit less of a jerk than he is now. He has his reasons.

R&R!


	5. The Tutor and the Tutored

**Chapter V : The Tutor and the Tutored**

"_We thought that was everything_

_To make us with that we were in his place."_

_-- Edwin Arlington Robinson_

* * *

"R-Ryoma-kun?"

Ryoma, slumping in his wooden seat, merely shot her an annoyed glare. "Shut up!" he hissed, casting a sidelong look at those who turned to stare. "Do you want everyone to know I'm here?"

"W-well, no, but what are you-"

"Jeez, nosy, aren't you?"

"N-no, but I'm just curious-"

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Sakuno didn't miss a beat. "But satisfaction brought it back."

Ryoma looked at her with an unreadable reaction, his cat-like eyes simply staring at her. Although wanting to look away, Sakuno had enough courage to hold his unwavering gaze, even though her mind urged her to go and scramble into a hole. But in a split second, a slight, almost invisible smirk appeared on his striking face, and he broke the contact.

Leaning back into his seat, he replied nonchalantly, "I made a deal with Nanako: six months of sick leave from the tour in exchange for six month of school." At the last few words, he wrinkled his nose unpleasantly.

"O-Oh, so you don't normally to schoolwork while you're touring?"

Ryoma did not reply and she took that as a 'yes.'

"But that's horrible!" Sakuno cried, incredulous at the thought of the lack of schoolwork that would eventually make one's brain mushy. "What if you don't succeed as a professional, o-or you injure your leg one day and can't ever play again? What will you do then?"

The tennis player shot her an exasperated look. "Look, Mouse Girl, I don't need you to predict my future."

"I-I'm not predicting your future. I'm just saying that you can't live off your parents forever!"

"Hn. They're richer than you think."

"That doesn't make it right!"

"None of your business."

"B-But—"

Sakuno's indignant reply that was at the tip of her tongue was quenched by the professor's voice.

"Miss Ryuuzaki, Mr. Kunimitsu, is there a problem?"

Before she could reply, Ryoma got ahead of her. "Yes. Miss Ryuuzaki keeps interrogating about my personal life."

Professor Finnegan's beady eyes turned towards Sakuno. "Is that true, Miss Ryuuzaki?"

"N-No! Well, yes, I g-guess," the petite brunette stammered. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper so that only the tennis star could hear. "A bit."

"Well then, Miss Ryuuzaki, please refrain from harassing anymore personal information from Mr. Kunimitsu."

"Y-Yes, sir."

Reddening and mentally scolding her cheeks for blushing so much, she tried to muster a contemptuous look aimed directly at her seating partner, only to find his smirk widening.

"Don't glare. It makes you look like constipated donkey."

Sakuno's mouth popped open at his rudeness. "H-How dare you!" Of all the mean things he had uttered out of that terrible, foul mouth, this had to be the meanest of them all! "You're, you're no better than Rhett Butler!"

Ryoma gave her a questioningly look.

"Rhett Butler! You know, the male lead in 'Gone with the Wind.'"

The tennis player rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know who he is."

"Then why did you give me that look? I don't suppose you actually like Rhett—"

"Miss Ryuuzaki, Mr. Kunimitsu!" Professor Finnegan's voice boomed from the altar. "What do you call a person who talks too much in class?"

There was silence for a few seconds before Ryoma replied pithily with a bored drawl, "A teacher, sir." The class erupted into a fit of giggles as Finnegan's ears turned a fine shade of red. If Sakuno squinted, she swore she could almost see wisps of steam flowing out of them

"I will talk to you both after class," the professor spoke through gritted teeth. "Any more misconduct will result in both of you seeing the dean of the university, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," they both murmured.

Sakuno sighed. She had always been in the good graces of her professors, and she had never once cause such havoc in so short a time. Although the inner Sakuno would very much like to bawl and throw a temper tantrum, her practical mind still had a firm reign.

"Finnegan and other professors send me notes and assignments while I'm on tour, and I send it back to them within a deadline." Ryoma's abrupt bout of information spill surprised Sakuno. He looked at the board with an apathetic countenance, his hands absentmindedly twirling a pen. "As for money, I have enough if I ever injure myself."

"R-Ryoma-kun, y-you don't h-have to tell me all this!"

He shrugged. "You asked."

"O-Oh. Well, thank you," she replied softly, and shot him a shy smile in which he ignored.

Sakuno gave him a dubious look before looking back down at her blank paper. "People actually believe that disguise?"

"People believe what they want to see."

"A-and…your name? Fuji Kunimitsu?"

"Friend's name."

"What would Tezuka-san or Fuji-san say when they know that you're using their name?"

"Honored."

"What?"

"They would feel honored."

Sakuno rolled her eyes. He was such a bombastic braggart, and it never failed to amaze her how his parents dealt with him. Poor Nanako! She wondered how that kind, gentle woman could tolerate such complacent behavior, though she supposed that not having to see him everyday helped a bit. Unlucky for her, she would have to see him both day and night. The thought left her thoroughly depressed.

Then, it occurred to her that if Ryoma could not remember their childhood escapades, he would certainly have thought it strange that she knew who Tezuka and Fuji were.

"Ne, Ryoma-kun, aren't you going to ask me why I know Tezuka-kun and Fuji-kun?"

There was no reply.

"Ryoma-kun?"

When once again she received silence as an answer, she sneaked a chary look at him, only find him dozing off, his head resting in the palms of his hand and his hideous, red hat lowered enough to cover his eyes from the professor's beady looks. The slanted sunlight from the window illuminated welcomingly on his face, and his usual haughty face lost its supercilious expression. In its place was one of serenity.

Sakuno smiled warmly. Although she didn't know exactly what was wrong with him – if there was anything wrong with him in the first place –it always seemed that he had a weight of responsibility shouldering him, a mysterious trouble lurking behind that arrogant image. It was lovely to see that always-guarded expression drop.

Vaguely aware that she had been rudely staring at him all this time, she flushed shamefully and turned her mind back onto the lesson, though how she could concentrate after all that had happened never occurred to her simple mind.

Once the class had been dismissed, Sakuno and Ryoma (who was shaken awake by the petite brunette) both stood by Finnegan, the former looking nervously at her feet while the latter stared soporifically at nothing in particular.

The graying professor cleared his throat. "Well, it seems to me that the both of you are getting along quite well." He looked at them meaningfully. "But please refrain from making a spectacle again, if you please."

Seeing that both of them were quiet, he continued on, "Mr. Echizen, I understand from your cousin that you are to continue to present yourself in class for the next six months. I expect you to be on time for the rest of your attendance, and if for some reason you are absent from class, Ms. Nanako will know about it."

Ryoma did not respond at all.

"Miss Ryuuzaki."

Sakuno jumped, startled. "Y-Yes?"

"You will help Mr. Echizen here to catch up on all the reading that he has missed."

"W-What?"

"You heard me, Miss Ryuuzaki. It seemed to me that you two are quite close, so I entrust the responsibility to you. Mr. Echizen is a bit behind, and he will need your help to catch up."

Sakuno shook her head fervently. "I w-would love to, sir, but I simply don't have the time!" The thought of adding tutoring into her usual amount of workload was enough to make her nauseous. Add the fact that it was the intractable Ryoma and she would probably suffer from a chronic migraine.

"Well, I suppose I could get someone else, but you two seem so-"

"Professor Finnegan," interrupted Ryoma, who had, all this time, stood there emotionlessly and stolid. "Ryuuzaki would love to help me. I'll help her with some of her work."

"B-But."

"We got to get going. Thank you, Professor Finnegan," Ryoma said and then grabbed a spluttering Sakuno, dragging her out of the room.

"Oh, Mr. Echizen! Please take your homework back! I want them redone properly, please."

Ryoma, with all the years of physical training, agilely turned like a graceful cat, grabbed the piles of papers and walked off with an indignant Sakuno in tow.

* * *

Sakuno was sitting unhappily in the living room of Ryoma's fancy mansion, and her displeasure was unpleasantly displayed by the scowl etched across her face. Sitting opposite of her was Ryoma, who was indolently scribbling something on a piece of paper.

"I would help you, Ryoma-kun, but I'm really busy!" Sakuno exclaimed. "I've got work at Starbucks, then I have to clean your house, then I have to go home and clean _my_ house, which means doing the laundry, ironing, moping, wiping, washing dishes, cooking for both houses. Then, I have to study and I get four hours of sleep each night."

Seeing the tennis star's indifference, she continued, "Not only that, I have to volunteer, and I have to take the bus and it's _freezing_ now that winter's coming." – silence – "Ryoma-kun?"

"Your point?"

Sakuno stuck out a tongue at him even though he wasn't even paying attention. "My point is that, as much as I love to tutor you, I can't!"

"Because…?"

"Because of all the above reasons which I listed thirty seconds ago!"

Ryoma gave her an unreadable look before resuming his task-at-hand. "I can't get anybody else because they'll kill me."

"Kill you?"

"Fans."

"Oh."

They lapsed into silence once more.

"What about Inui-san? He's more than capable."

"No time."

"I have no time either! And besides, why do you need my help anyways? You know you're much more brilliant than I am."

"I do know."

Sakuno shot him an aggravated look that was very uncharacteristic of her, but continued anyways. "So, since you're really good at doing whatever it is that you do…"

Ryoma looked up from his writing with banality. "I'll tell Morghanna to shorten your hours by four if you help me, and your pay remains the same."

"Really?" Sakuno gaped at him, elated at the proposal.

"And you don't even have to teach me."

Sakuno frowned in puzzlement. "But…how am I going to help you this way?"

"Just do my homework for me."

"What? No, no! I can't do that! What if Professor Finnegan notices?"

"Fine. Give me a copy of your papers and I'll just word them differently."

"No! That's not right! It's not like you're working, anyways! What are you so busy about?"

"Training."

"B-But it's just so wrong!"

"And you're really annoying."

Sakuno was rendered speechless. Never one for smart comebacks, she just sat there, frustrated and annoyed – a combination that had her mind reeling. She supposed it was all right if he were to change the wordings around, but if she was caught and expelled after studying like a monk to get into this school, he would have hell to pay. Better yet, she should get compensation – monthly allowances that would allow her to live in luxury for the rest of her miserable life.

Watching Ryoma, who was still scribbling, she grabbed one of the papers that Professor Finnegan had told him to rewrite, and frowned at its content.

"_Comment on the role of religion in Nietzsche's 'Beyond Good and Evil' compared with Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown.'"_

_Sorry, this is against _my_ religion. _

"_The Paralysis depicted in Joyce's "Eveline" is shown through in what ways?"_

_I speak only from experience and I never suffered from paralysis, thus I regret to inform you that I can't say. _

"I'm surprised Professor Finnegan didn't blow off your head after seeing this. He loves literature so, and to see you degrade it like this!" Sakuno commented incredulously, not knowing whether she should laugh or cry.

"He can't afford to. Not only will my mom have a fit, my fans would castrate him."

Despite herself, Sakuno cracked a smile. "I suppose so. How will your dad react?"

"He'll probably congratulate Finnegan and treat him out for dinner," Ryoma replied sourly, his eyes still on his paper. "And then he'll probably stick my head on a javelin, placing it in front of his garden to keep him entertained whenever he's bored."

"You've probably done something to deserve that. I mean, he had to raise someone like you for twenty years."

"Without me he would've died from boredom."

Sakuno snorted. "I'm amazed your dad didn't just throw you off a cliff."

It was to Sakuno's amazement that she realized just how comfortable she was talking to Ryoma like this – one void of constant snapping and biting down each other's throat. She wasn't even stuttering anymore! And though it was hard press to admit it to herself, the sarcastic comments made by the black-haired boy not only amused her thoroughly, but made her feel strangely happy. Happy about what? She really didn't know. But Sakuno wasn't about to complain about the sudden peaceful atmosphere that was created between them.

After a few more minutes of bantering, a thought suddenly jumped into Sakuno's mind. "By the way, what did your dad say when you told him that you'd be taking a break from tennis?"

Although it was for a mere few seconds, Sakuno caught the faltering of the pen that Ryoma was using. It thoroughly surprised her, for it was so very unlike Ryoma to react so, even if it was subtle. Having never been an observant girl in general, it was to Sakuno's credit that she also noticed a flicker in the tennis star's eyes he scrunched up his fist before loosening them.

"He was fine with it," Ryoma replied evenly, his face and tone in complete neutrality, which frustrated Sakuno to no end. She was a girl who always wore her heart on her sleeves, and not being able to understand and diverge Ryoma's self-contained emotions made her feel helpless. The mood, she noticed, had suddenly dropped from a mocking yet comfortable atmosphere into one filled with awkwardness and tension. This, at least, she was able to cure.

Her voice dropping into a jovial tone, she teased, "You know, even though you put on such an apathetic front, you're just a big softie."

Ryoma, who she supposed was relieved that she had dropped the matter, gladly took the bait. He stopped writing and dropped the pen onto the table, leaning torpidly back onto his chair with a languid smirk gracing his features.

Sakuno prattled on. "I mean, you can be such a jerk sometimes, but after seeing you with Naomi, I can tell that you're just acting half the time. My theory as to why you're such a big, arrogant jerk all the time is because it's just a habit that you fall into. You have to scare you're opponents and I guess having a scowl etched onto your face can have a permanent effect."

She paused, seeing the amusement in Ryoma's eyes. "But don't worry, Ryoma-kun, I promise I'll keep your secret safe with me." She nodded, gesticulating a finger to her lips as a sign to prove her sincerity. "Provided that you don't call me Mouse Girl from now on."

"My, aren't we getting comfortable around here?" –Was the lazy drawl.

"What?"

"As your employer, I'm the one who holds the bargaining chip, in case your silly mouse brain forgets."

Sakuno flushed, standing up and walked to the other side of the room. She faced the wall and was strangely absorbed into looking at the painting of a fruit basket. "Well, I know that you won't fire me because I'm your tutor and all, and Nanako-san would probably have a fit if you fired me without a good reason."

"Mm, true. But that doesn't make me any less intimidating, does it?"

Sakuno turned around; as she was about to retort that he was thinking much too highly of himself and something along the lines of that, she could only emit a squeal of surprise. Ryoma was, by some miracle, standing right before her, his gaze holding hers that bespoke of his amusement, and his body was only a few inches away from touching hers. It was _much_ too close for her liking.

"W-What are you d-doing?" Sakuno managed to squeak out, swallowing the lump in her throat with difficulty. The tennis player only responded with a Cheshire grin before taking another step, in which she could only respond by edging backwards until she hit the wall.

"Scared?" he teased lightly, tracing the edge of her face delicately with his finger.

A spark of electricity followed Ryoma's feather light touch, causing Sakuno to gulp in response. Her heart plummeted and her stomach churned, making her breath quicken as blood thrummed through her body. She had ever experienced something quite like this before, and somewhere distant in her mind, Sakuno wondered if this was what it felt like that when she spotted Kiera and her boyfriend having some fun in one of the washroom stalls of Starbucks.

"D-Don't," she whimpered out, shutting her eyes tightly as her predator leaned in even closer, one hand resting on the wall to the left of her head, the other one tilting her chin. He was so close now that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body and she could smell the gentle scent of Sandalwood and clean aftershave.

"Don't what?" Ryoma asked as his thumb glided across her lips, making her snap her head down and bite her lips. His words were enough to send a shiver down her spine and into her toes as she pressed her whole body unto the wall. All thoughts and words were quelled. "I see the cat got your tongue, mouse."

Sakuno couldn't really decided if she liked this feeling or not, and even though her primeval self was thoroughly enjoying this advancement, the logical part of her knew that this was wrong.

"M-Morghanna might walk in a-and…" Her whisper was interrupted by a little whimper of pleasure as she felt his lips brushing against the side of her nape, his hands sliding down the length of her stomach. Heat rushed to wherever his touch was, and it only registered to her that the whimper was actually produced by herself.

"Scared?" murmured Ryoma, who by now, had his hand around her torso. In a flash of reason, Sakuno pushed him off with a force that neither one of them expected.

"Y-You insufferable p-prick!" Sakuno hissed, her eyes flashing with hot, white anger. "O-Of course I'm not scared of y-you!" While it was true that she was indeed angry, Sakuno's rage was only partly directed at the devil reincarnate standing before her; the other part was aimed towards herself – the shame of actually enjoying his inappropriate actions.

"You're stuttering again," Ryoma pointed out lazily, his hands in his pockets as he strolled back to his chair, picking up his pen and resuming his writing. His casual indifference infuriated Sakuno even more. "I see that I am still intimidating."

She clenched her face as her face heated up even more so then it already was. "H-How dare you! Y-You horrible, evil, in-incorrigible j-jerk!"

"You already said that."

"Y-You're a pig-headed p-prick with an ego the s-size of a w-watermelon!"

Ryoma made a choked noise, which to Sakuno's feminine instinct, was a miserable attempt to hide his amusement.

"I-I'm leaving!" she declared. "Forget the deal! I-I'm not helping your papers o-or anything else for that matter!" With her head held high, she stomped out of the room in an effort to maintain her dignity – or what was really left of it.

However, her left shred of dignity was really torn apart as she stopped in mid-step when an incredibly annoying voice cut through the air. "Ne, aren't you forgetting something?"

Turning around, she found the smirking tennis player holding her duffel bag containing her wallet, cell phone, all the textbooks and her essentials. If not for the fact that she would die without those stuff, she would've ignored it and walked away. But as it was, Sakuno, not wanting to fail her test tomorrow because her textbook was held hostage by a certain devil's spawn, threw her pride out the window and stomped back to Ryoma, who was certainly having difficulties containing his enjoyment at her expense.

She made a snatch for her bag, but Ryoma, having agilely lifted it out of her reach with an effortless grace that would've made the elves from Lord of the Rings go green with envy.

"Give that back!" She seethed.

His only response was to lift it higher.

Just as Sakuno was contemplating whether or not if she should resort to aggression – something she was very opposed to do (after all, she was a firm believer that violence never solves anything), a soft voice interrupted them.

"Ryoma?"

Sakuno duly noted the flicker of surprise flashing across his cat-like eyes as his a genuine quirk of a smile showed on his lips. However little, such a display of expression and sincerity was so much of a rare sight that the brunette had to blink to see if it wasn't just a trick of the light.

Indeed, Ryoma dropped Sakuno's bag, his original purpose completely forgotten as he walked passed Sakuno towards the source of the voice. Turning around, she saw, in time, that the tennis star had engulfed someone into his arms. That someone, from where Sakuno could see, was small, blonde and incredibly pretty.

And undeniably, she was. The girl, no older than Sakuno, had a flawless light-olive complexion matched by a pair of doll-like green eyes, with her curled hair cascading down the back of her slender body to frame her heart-shaped face. Yet, it wasn't her looks that had Sakuno's heart wrenching in a tinge of envy – it was the fact that Ryoma actually smiled at the girl – a smile that held no trace of arrogance, no sarcasm, and no superficiality. It was just a smile of contentment.

Morghanna, who had entered the living room around the same time as the girl did, sighed, at ease with the scene she had just witnessed.

Sakuno couldn't hold back the question any longer. "Morghanna, who is she?"

"Ah, dearie, I'm glad you asked. You would have to meet sooner or later. She's the person who currently holds the most important place in the young master's heart."

* * *

**A/N: **Like every other chapter, I have to apologize for my non-existent update. Life is nutters right at the moment, so bear with me, you guys! Thanks for the support though – it actually helped me through this chapter. I hope that the Ryoma-and-Sakuno interactions made up for it – I should think they deserved some time well-spent alone, don't you? I'm really glad that I got up to the point where the plot is actually starting to roll a bit.

Okay, to answer a few questions:

_I want to see more Ryoma and Sakuno actions!_

Well, this chapter has plenty. And if you're talking about the fluff and sugary parts, let's just say, you got to wait. I like to take things slow and let them develop. As many of you guessed, I'm not a very idealistic person – but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy some trashy romance once in a while 

_Is Fuji going to show up at some point?_

Er...Just wait and find out. Don't expect to meet all the Regulars. I'd like to have a Sanada and an Atobe (I love him to pieces) pop in sometime later on, but that really all depends.

_What's with Ryoma's attitude?_

Honestly, having the media chasing after you since you were twelve can really do some damage. Plus, with all the ads and the girls, his ego was probably jolted up more than enough notches. But again, he has his own issues to deal with.

Thanks to everyone again, and especially Lily!


	6. Soap in the Making

**Chapter VI: Soap in the Making**

_"I grip the wheel, _

_and all at once_

_ I realize that my life has become a boring pop song _

_and everyone's singing along." _

- Jack's Mannequin, "I'm Ready"

* * *

Sakuno didn't really know what compelled her to buy five atrocious buckets of ice cream, but it was on a bright, star-filled night that she discovered herself stuffing spoonful after spoonful of figure-flattening ice cream into her mouth.

The tattered television was on, playing the latest episode of a very highly rated Japanese drama. Like all dramas, this one had a poor, naïve, sweet girl falling for the mysterious resident –albeit "uber" handsome – bad-boy who had some sort of typical prince syndrome and sad, boohoo past that made him an egotistical jerk. Of course, the mysterious resident bad boy was probably already in love with some other gorgeous blue-eyed, blonde starlet who happened to be a nefarious, scheming bitch, and thus, the cute, sweet protagonist was deftly ignored. That is, ignored until the resident bad boy realizes just how much of a gem the cute, sweet protagonist was and thus will have had some sort of magical change overnight to become some super smart guy who then went to Harvard and earned the love of everyone else. If that even made sense.

Sakuno wrinkled her nose as she swallowed another mouthful of her strawberry ice cream. Although she hated to admit it, she did rather enjoy the whole cliché and stereotypical plotline. While the acting was horrible and the plot was predictable, there was some sort of odd comfort to be found in watching the pouty actress trying to find a plan to make the love of her life notice her. Sakuno was sure she could take a leaf out of the protagonist's book – perhaps then, she would actually have a love life instead of pining for one.

Of course, to put it into real life, the evil bad boy would probably be Ryoma, and the girl who would make him realize that life was worth living would be _that_ girl – yes, the pretty blonde-hair, green-eyed girl named Yukino Miyazawa.

She was, for a lack of a better analogy, like a little fairy with her cascade of silky hair framing her petite face decorated with finely sculptured features. Of mix descent – according to Morghanna, she was half-Japanese and half French – Yukino Miyazawa was the very first friend (as in, the type of friend who didn't give a damn if you were the best and probably hottest tennis player in the world) that Ryoma had met when he had settled in the States. A renowned ballerina in the New York dance circle, Yukino was labeled as the next "it-girl" in the world of classical ballet, and the tabloids had also felt the need to point out that she was Ryoma's love interest.

Of course, Ryoma and Yukino had vehemently denied it, saying that they were simply "good friends," but Sakuno couldn't help but have a nagging suspicion that "good friends" was a euphemism for "we-share-hugs-and-kisses-and-warm-beds kind of friends."

Now, Sakuno was by far a very non-judgmental girl as can be, and with her sunny disposition, she was capable of liking everyone. However, when Morghanna had introduced Yukino to her, Sakuno couldn't help but feel a pull of…_something_ for the girl. That "something", oddly, leaned towards the negative side of the scale. If the girl hadn't been so darn genuine, Sakuno could probably label the "something" as dislike. But no, Yukino just had to shoot her a blindingly sweet smile that was devoid of any hidden intentions and greeted her in the most cheerful of manners. Sakuno felt like she was the nefarious, scheming little bitch in one of those teenage dramas.

When Sakuno was about to leave, Yukino had happily volunteered to walk her to the door and see her out, all the while chattering cheerily about how excited she was to see the premiere of the new Batman movie featuring Christian Bale. Ryoma, who remained silent throughout the whole exchange, had conveniently snubbed Sakuno since the blonde girl's arrival, and had continued his snubbing when Sakuno was about to leave.

And it was after she left the tennis star's mansion that she went to the nearest convenience store and dished out her hard-earned cash for the five buckets of ice cream she was now caressing fondly. There was nothing like the joy of feeling the smooth, buttery, and creamy taste of strawberry melting in one's mouth. A perfectly effective remedy for a perfectly horrible day, though what was so horrible about it, she had not a clue.

Sakuno was now spellbound to the climax of the drama, where the evil resident bad-boy-turned-good had just grabbed the sweet, naïve girl by the arm and pulled her into an earth-shattering kiss, both merrily sticking their tongues into each other's throat out in the breezy, spring rain. When the couple broke off, the girl looked at him fondly, tears in her eyes (it might have been the rain – Sakuno couldn't really tell) and uttered, "I…I love-"

Sakuno was tempted to throw her cell phone that had ringed at exactly the right moment. Instead, she picked it up and glanced at the caller ID. Surprised at the caller, she picked it up.

"Hello? Ryoma-kun?"

"Ryuuzaki."

"Is something the matter?" Sakuno furrowed her brows quizzically.

There was a loud screech followed by a horrible sob. Ryoma answered in a pained voice, "Can you come over, _now_?"

"Um...but Ryoma-kun, its one in the morning."

"So?"

"So, I have school in the morning, and a test."

"It's an emergency." There was a hint of desperation mixed with impatience in Ryoma's voice. Another screech was heard through the other end.

"I-Is everything okay?"

"_No_. Come now," there was a pause as if he was contemplating something before saying, "Please."

Sakuno bit her lips. It wasn't everyday that the tennis star said "please." Granted, it was more forced than anything else, but at least, he had the decency to say it. And never one to reject those in need of help, Sakuno reluctantly gave in, agreeing that she would be over as soon as possible.

It was a half-an-hour later that Sakuno arrived by cab in front of Ryoma's mansion, and from the moment she set her eyes on the house, she knew that there something spectacularly wrong.

Every single light in the house was on, and the front gate was unlocked and opened. She quickly trotted in, only to discover that the door too, was undone. Stepping in, she squinted her brown eyes but saw nothing out of the ordinary, so she hastily walked upstairs to be greeted by muffled sobs.

Following the noise, she passed by the guest bathroom only to discover that the toilet had flooded with the water still dribbling. Even more confused, Sakuno hurried her steps and stopped in front of a wooden door where the noise had led her.

Creaking it open, she saw that the room had become a calamity zone, with broken lamps and bottles strewn all over the room. Articles of clothing dotted the polished floors and papers were scatter left to right. In the heap of the entire debacle, sat a gruff-looking Ryoma and a sniffling Naomi.

Ryoma, with sleep in his eyes and a mop of ruffled black hair, shot her the most enervating glare. "What the hell took you so long?"

Sakuno looked at him in disbelief. "This," she said, pointing to Naomi, "Is the emergency?" The little girl only looked tearfully up at her before bursting out into a full-blast shriek that shook Sakuno's eardrums.

"I want mommy!" Naomi screeched, flailing her stubby arms into Ryoma's cringing face. "I want mommy,_ I want mommmmmmmmy_!"

"What the heck did you do to her?" Sakuno shouted over the girl's voluble screams while trying to muffle the decibels of Naomi's vocal chords.

"I don't know! She just suddenly started in the middle of the night! _Help me_!" As Ryoma barked the order, he grabbed his niece by her legs, and with her head dangling upside down, he none-too-gently passed the girl into a bewildered Sakuno's outstretched arms. This only increased the intensity of Naomi's wails.

"R-Ryoma-kun! You can't do that to a baby!"

"Whatever," he said, clamping his hands against his ears. "Just,_ please_, shut her up!" With that, he stormed out the room in a manner similar to that of someone who was given the chance to escape from hell.

Cradling and rocking Naomi in her arms, Sakuno hummed and crooned, smoothing the girl's soft, blue hair repeatedly. It wasn't until fifteen minutes later that Naomi's sobs had quieted enough for the four-year-old to whimper.

"S-saku-chan,"_ – hic –_ "I-I want"_ –hic – _"mommy."

"Shhh," Sakuno whispered, brushing Naomi's hair from her tear-stained face. "Mommy's very, very busy right now." Busy with what, she didn't know. But the kid didn't need to know that, did she? "She's out doing something very important, and she'll have a big surprise for you if you'll be a good girl."

"B-But, I m-miss" _– hic – _"mommy."

"I know you do, but so do I. Mommy will be home very soon, and I'm sure she misses you very, very much."

Big blue eyes stared at Sakuno earnestly. "R-really?"

"Really." The brunette had a sinking feeling lying to the girl in front of her – what if indeed, Nanako was so very busy that she wouldn't be back for another month? Or even worst, what if something had happened?

"But for now, you have to go to sleep so that little fairies can come to you and make your wish come true."

Naomi sniffed. "O-okay. I like" – hic – "fairies."

"I know you do." Sakuno kissed her on the forehand and tucked her in snuggly.

"I-I feel" – hic – "funny."

"Funny?"

"Funny." Naomi nodded fervently, pointing down her body. With a glance, Sakuno realized what was wrong – Ryoma had put on the diaper in the opposite way. Idiot.

Naomi muttered something.

"Pardon me, Naomi?"

"N-Neil."

"Neil? What's wrong with Neil?"

"He-he's on the ground"

Sakuno dashed to the other side. Indeed, Nanako's oldest was lying on the wooden floor, his body a semblance of the crucified, with sheets tangled around his leg and arms and a streak of drool marring his snoring face. Sakuno rolled her eyes. Kids.

After heaving Neil up onto the bed beside her sister – he had somehow remained blissfully in dreamland through the whole ordeal – Naomi looked at the brunette.

"S-Saku-nee-chan, I want" – hic – "S-sugar."

"Sugar?"

Naomi pointed her stout little finger at a stuffed white teddy sitting lopsidedly by the pillows. Handing it to her, Sakuno watched as Naomi buried her face into her little companion before attempting to snuggle into her brother's outstretched arms.

Creeping out of the room, Sakuno rubbed her temples to clear her head before heading down to the living room where Ryoma was stretched out languidly by the sofa, flicking the channels with a look of pure boredom. Karupin was also curled up by her master's side, swishing her bushy tail in an indolent manner. Together, the master and cat made a picture of lassitude. Sakuno felt a stab of resentment – while she was upstairs, risking the chance of forever losing her hearing, these two were lazing around, doing absolutely nothing. Slugs! They were all slugs!

Upon seeing a disheveled Sakuno, the tennis player smirked. "Hello. You look horrible."

The girl in question shot him a glare. "You call me out at this time of the night; can't you be at least a little bit decent? I want an explanation."

"She pooped. She cried. She won't shut up."

"Didn't you at least think of a way? Instead of calling me out, just use your brain!"

Ryoma shot her a withering glower. "You think I haven't tried?"

"No!" Sakuno cried exasperatedly. "For god's sake, you put her diaper on backwards!"

"Hnn."

As if a simple "hnn" would suffice for the mistake. Sakuno fumed, but Ryoma had already turned his focus back onto the NASCAR race on the plasma.

"You haven't explained yet."

"What?"

"Why Neil and Naomi is at your house."

"Nanako had some emergency to attend to in Japan."

"Oh. And?"

"And what?"

Sakuno gritted her teeth, curbing the temptation to chug the can of Ponta on the glass table at the nonchalant Ryoma. "And, couldn't you have asked Morghanna to help you instead?"

Ryoma looked at her in an "are-you-stupid?" way. "Morghanna is on vacation."

Oh, right. After the chirpy introduction between Sakuno and Yukino, the aging housekeeper had dragged the former by the arm and into the living room, where Morghanna gave her a squawking pep talk.

"_Now, I'll be gone to Jamaica by tomorrow, so you better not laze off while I'm not here, you understand? My better judgments tell me you are trustworthy, so I better not come back and find this place infected by pests and dust bunnies, yes?" _

Sakuno couldn't help but ponder if Morghanna's sense of judgments was faulty due to her old age or her lack of sensibility. The housekeeper had said Ryoma was the sweetest, cutest, most _adorable _(by this time, Sakuno had the urge to gag) little boy she had ever had the pleasure to meet in her long life of sixty-five years, but witnessing the picture just now of an indolent Ryoma languishing happily along with his equally indolent cat, Sakuno begged to differ.

"Have you ever thought to bribe Naomi?"

"I did."

Sakuno rolled her eyes. "Yes. You gave her money. _Money_. Ryoma-kun, money has no value to kids, much less a five-year-old."

"I told her she could buy candy with it," shrugged Ryoma.

"Well, apparently, she seemed to think that the coins you gave her were some sort of shiny candy. She tried to swallow it, did you know that?"

Ryoma snickered, but Sakuno continued on fervently, "And did you know why she was so uncomfortable? You changed her diaper the _wrong_ way. You – you have absolutely no clue what to do with kids!"

"Which," the tennis star's amber orbs focused on her, a smirk lighting up in those cat-like eyes. "Is why I now hire you as a live-in nanny."

The girl in question could only gape at him.

"Can you close your mouth? You look like a fish, and it's rather unbecoming."

"E-excuse me!" Sakuno blushed furiously in a combination of both rage and embarrassment. "Y-you can't just hire me whenever you feel like it."

Ryoma blinked. "But I just did."

"Well, I – I refuse!"

"You need the money."

"Yes, I do, but I don't have time to clean the house and work at Starbucks and help out with the kids! I have homework and tests to study for! And also, _somebody_ needs me as a tutor."

"Ditch Starbucks." There was an obvious _duh_ in his tone.

"I can't!"

"Look, the money that I'll offer you are probably ten times more than what you get for your silly part-time job."

"Well, what happens when Nanako comes back? My silly part-time job will be gone."

"Then find another silly part-time job. Those silly part-time jobs are everywhere."

Sakuno wanted to slap his _silly_ matter-of-fact tone out of his _silly _face. Refusal was on her lips but he interrupted.

Ryoma gazed at her nonchalantly, "I'll also double your wage for the housekeeping."

Sakuno hesitated.

"Aren't you six months behind on both your tuition and rent?"

"How did you know?" the brunette gave him a fixing look.

He shrugged. "Nanako."

Ah. The woman had asked for her financial records when she was hired – something to do with tax deductions and what not. Nanako must have told Ryoma about her financial issues, but Sakuno wished that the pretty lady had just kept her mouth shut.

She bit her lips.

"I'll triple it."

"Okay, okay!" The offer was too good to pass on, and Sakuno, though dumb and naïve at times, was no fool to deny such a good deal. If it all worked out fine and dandy, perhaps she could finally be free of the insistent badgering of the landlady to cough up the rent.

"I don't have my stuff."

"I'll drive you tomorrow so you can get your stuff."

"Fine," Sakuno muttered. "Hopefully, I won't jump off a bridge after a week."

Ignoring his triumphant smirk and his "mada mada dane", the petite brunette was about to stalk out of the room when a thought occurred to her.

"Um, Ryoma-kun, I think you need to call the plumber tomorrow. The toilet flooded."

"I know."

"What…what happened?"

"Nothing. It started to flood when I flushed the diaper."

When his solemn statement was greeted with a ringing silence, Ryoma turned to look at Sakuno with a questioning expression. "Wasn't I supposed to do that?"

Sakuno stared at him with a mixture of amusement, bewilderment, and disbelief. "Mada mada dane, Ryoma-kun."

* * *

The next morning, Sakuno received a call from a frenzied Nanako.

"Sakuno, I'm so, so, so very grateful for your help! One of my husband's closest friends just passed away and he's drinking himself into a stupor. Ryoma was my last resort, but he doesn't know anything about kids, and with Morghanna gone…"

"No, no, its fine. I made a promise to live-in and help with the kids until you're back. And I'm very sorry about your husband's friend."

"Thank you, Sakuno, truly. I don't know what I would've done without you. Naomi can be especially troubling and I won't be back for at least two months. He was one of my husband's clients, and he has to deal with the will and everything...and there's also the funeral."

"Don't worry, I'll protect both Naomi and Neil from being accidently poisoned by Ryoma." _Like preventing Naomi from swallowing a coin…_

"Is Naomi there?"

"Yes, hold on, please!" Sakuno said sweetly, before passing the phone to Naomi, who had been sitting on Sakuno's lap throughout the whole conversation, staring at the phone with her big, blue orbs.

"Mommy!" Naomi squealed happily, giggling into the phone.

Neil, who was banally twirling his spoon in his bowl of cereal, looked up at Sakuno. "Hey, Ugly, when's mommy coming back?"

Sakuno puffed her cheeks indignantly. "Don't call me ugly! You should be more respectful towards your elders!"

Neil shrugged. "Mommy told me never to lie. So when's mommy coming back?"

Deliberately ignoring his first sentence, Sakuno answered, "In about two months…she has to settle some important matters."

"Oh. So you're our nanny?"

"Yup."

"Oh. I thought Uncle Ryoma would have better taste than that."

"E-excuse me?"

"Well, I thought Uncle Ryoma would hire someone…hotter, like Yukino."

Sakuno paid no heed to the boy's jibes. She knew she wasn't commonly beautiful nor was she uniquely pretty, but she frowned at Neil's train of thoughts. "Aren't you a bit too young to like girls?" He was at the age where thinking about girls was a massive violation – the price of that violation was to receive the constant jeering and teasing of his pals.

Neil shrugged, popping a cheerio into his mouth. "I _don't_ like girls, but Grandpa Nanjiroh said it's never too young to start appreciating the beauty of the female body. He even showed me some from the books he's always reading."

Having always heard that Ryoma's notorious dad was a big fan of anything female with a big rack, Sakuno wondered if Echizen Nanjiroh's son was as contaminated as his father. "You..you are quite mature for your age, aren't you?"

"'Course," Neil nodded his head proudly, "Uncle Ryoma always said that I'm mature beyond my years!"

"And he's immature beyond his years," Sakuno muttered underneath her breathe as the five-year-old passed the phone over to her brother. She vaguely recalled Ryoma's lack of action in reaction towards Naomi's howling sobs.

The person of their topic then made his presence known, garbed in a simple dress shirt and brown khakis. In his hand, he held a pair of sunglasses and his hideous red hat. In the other, he was dangling the keys to his car.

"Let's go," Ryoma said, and he left without even a glance.

* * *

After Ryoma had dropped the kids off at school, he stopped by Tim Horton's and bought them both a cup of hot, steaming coffee. Sakuno quietly sipped the caffeine-induced drink, casting a sideway glance at Ryoma. She was surprised to find him rubbing his eyes uncomfortably. If not for the layer or perspiration dampening his sun-tanned skin, Sakuno would've thought it was merely from the lack of sleep. However, the tennis player's manner connoted his palpable discomfort as he shifted constantly in the driver's seat.

"Ryoma-kun? Are you alright?" she asked concernedly.

Ryoma's voice did not betray his evident distress. "I'm fine."

"A-are you sure? Do you need me to drive instead?"

"No. I'm fine." The finality in his tone bespoke of his desire of ending the conversation, in which Sakuno hesitantly complied though she couldn't shrug off her anxiety.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the university, he urged her to go ahead, and once again, she duly abided by his request and got off the car, but not before seeing him reach for a bottle of cream pills that seemed awfully familiar. It was the same bottle that she had accidently discovered in his room more than a months ago.

Before she could question him, Sayoko's green Toyota pulled up right next to her, and the preppy girl waved cheerfully before bounding over. It was obvious to Sakuno that her friend's chipper demeanor bespoke of Sayoko's ghastly consumption of sugar-high sweets for breakfast.

Sayoko gave her a quick peck on the cheeks before glancing at Ryoma's red convertible. She gave a wolf-whistle.

"Wow, fancy much?"

Indeed, Sakuno may not be a fan of luxury cars, but she had to be an idiot not to know that the sleek, classy BMW convertible (which screamed class and quality) must have cost a fortune – a fortune that Sakuno's five years of hard labor would never be able to achieve.

When Ryoma, who had not donned his horrendous hat and thick glasses yet, stepped out of his car, Sayoko's eyes widened.

She whispered to Sakuno, "Wow, Sakuno, you never told me you had such a hot _and_ rich boyfriend." It was to Ryoma's luck that the law student had absolutely zero interest in tennis. In fact, she had absolutely nada interest in anything that involved the laborious use of her legs.

The brunette flushed. "N-no, he's not my b-boyfriend. H-he's just a friend."

"Please," Sayoko scoffed, looking down at her friend in a way that spelled out her disbelief. Seeing Sakuno's continued assurance that he was really not her boyfriend, the Japanese girl sniffed. "Well, fine, if you say so. But then, you wouldn't mind introducing me to him now, would you?" Without waiting for a reply, Sayoko leapt towards Ryoma, who had just grabbed his book bag from his trunk.

"Hello," the law student piped exuberantly, "I'm Kinomoto Sayoko, a good friend of Sakuno's. Nice to meet you."

Ryoma blinked at her outstretched hands, before looking at her uninterestedly. "Hnn," he said blatantly, before slamming the trunk. To Sakuno, he said, "Let's go," He strolled away, leaving Sayoko fuming and her hands dangling.

"What a jerk!" she commented to an apologetic Sakuno.

_You have_ no_ idea. _

Sakuno knew it was extremely low of her to be snooping around Ryoma's room, but having always been thoughtful of others, she could not ignore what she had seen this afternoon. Ryoma had evidently been bothered by something, and she was going to find out.

Shuffling through the heaps of clothes and piles of rubbish – evidently, Ryoma had kept his room in_ fine_ shape even though Sakuno spent at least an hour everyday sorting through his junk – she finally found what she was looking for.

However, instead of her premonition of finding only a clear plastic bottle, she also discovered one of tangy, orange color. Grabbing both, she hurriedly went to her temporary room and opened her laptop, her fingers clicking over the keyboards.

The one of tangy orange color were sleeping pills. Okay, Sakuno could understand that. Keira and even Sayoko sometimes could not slumber due to being overstressed – imagine Ryoma, who had to travel from one place to another in a span of a week. The time change and temperature difference would drive any sane person crazy.

The second one, however, was cryptic. Sakuno furrowed her brows as she quickly scanned over the details.

_Trimipramine (TCA): __Trimipramine's mechanism of action differs from other tricyclic antidepressants. It is only a moderate reuptake inhibitor of norepinephrine, and a weak reuptake inhibitor of serotonin and dopamine. The main effects are due to considerable postsynaptic blockade. _

Sakuno was stumped. By no means was she a science geek, but she was able to realize that Ryoma was suffering worse than he let on – Inui and Nanako had both known. That time, when she had overhead the confrontation between those three, it had been about this.

"_The thing is you won't tell us what the problem is, you're not taking the medication that the doctors prescribed, and you just suddenly decide to take a leave off the tour! I've been with you since you were a kid, Ryoma-kun, and I know you better than you do yourself. Please, just… tell us what's wrong."_

Those words that Nanako had spoken two months ago echoed loudly in Sakuno's mind. The brunette wanted to smack herself for being so very, very stupid. How could she have overlooked that? At that time, all she cared about was satisfying her desire of meeting Nanako and getting close to Ryoma. She hadn't even consider what they had been talking about – how uncaring could she be?

Determined to override her mistakes, Sakuno made a pact to herself that she would find out what the problem was. Knowing Ryoma would either sneer coldly or blow a tantrum if asked, he was out of the question. Nanako wasn't here, and she wasn't likely to spill anything. Morghanna also wasn't available, and she'd probably fire her if she remotely hinted at the subject.

The last resort would have to be Inui. Even if she had to hold his beloved glasses hostage, she would definitely wiggle the information out of him.

* * *

**A/N: **So, it's been almost four months since I last updated, and I can feel the um…hostility directed towards me. If you guys want excuses, I have two: one, I was so busy that I get four hours of sleep each night (c'est vrai!). You know the drill – exams, work, more exams, competitions, exams, Wimbledon (holy crap, one of the best matches I've ever witnessed). Two, I actually finished half the chapter, and then boom-boom-bam, my hard drive died. Lost absolutely _everything_! Yes, yes, I know, I'm a failure as an authoress. But, on the bright side, I'm going to update at least twice in August, so, no hard feelings, hmm?

I try to update the news section of my profile as much as possible, so always check to see my progress! And for my other story, I think it's high time to go over and revise it, yes?

By the way, I totally know this is totally out of topic, but as Yukino mentioned in the chapter, you guys HAVE to watch the Dark Knight. Heath Ledger was absolutely stunning, and Christian Bale (drool) was more than hot. I haven't seen a movie that good in _years_! In fact, I watched it twice in two consecutive days :D

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter…and R&R!!

P.S. Oh, right. I had many awesome people tell me that Karupin is a male – oops. I would like to go back to the first chapter and correct it, but I think I'll do that once I finish the whole story and do a major re-editing. So Karupin can now be a girl kitty.

P.S.S. I hope that Karupin is okay with it. I mean, Ryoma and a girl Karupin sounds better than Ryoma and a guy Karupin.

P.S.S.S. But then again, if I made Ryoma into a girl, I don't think he would appreciate it very much…


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